Traveling through These Airports? Don’t Connect to Their Public Wi-Fi

You may want to think twice before using the Wi-Fi at San Diego International Airport.

A new study from Cloud security company Coronet ranks the safety of the public Wi-Fi at 45 of the busiest airports and SDIA was found to be the absolute worst.

The study reviewed data over a five-month period starting in January. Based on that review, each airport was assigned a threat index score which is an indication of the device vulnerability and Wi-Fi network risks.

While free, public airport Wi-Fi may often be a godsend, the networks are often unencrypted, insecure or improperly configured, said the Coronet study.

“Far too many U.S. airports have sacrificed the security of their Wi-Fi networks for consumer convenience,” said Dror Liwer, Coronet’s founder and CISO. “As a result, business travelers in particular put not just their devices, but their company’s entire digital infrastructure at risk every time they connect to Wi-Fi that is unencrypted, unsecured or improperly configured.”

San Diego’s airport scored a 10 out of 10, higher than any other airport. Coronet found that a Wi-Fi access point with the name “#SANfreewifi” was running an ARP Poisoning attack, a fact that should make most Wi-Fi using travelers cringe. While the site appeared to users to be the airport-sanctioned free Wi-Fi server, in fact, it was not.

According to the report, the chances of connecting to a medium-risk network in San Diego are 30 percent. The odds of logging onto a high-risk one are about 11 percent.

The top 10 most vulnerable airports are:

—San Diego International (San Diego) – Threat Index Score: 10

—John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport (Santa Ana, California) – Threat Index Score: 8.7

—William P Hobby Airport (Houston, Texas) – Threat Index Score: 7.5

—Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers, Florida) – Threat Index Score: 7.1

—Newark Liberty International Airport (Newark, New Jersey) – Threat Index Score: 7.1

—Dallas Love Field (Dallas, Texas) – Threat Index Score: 6.8

—Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix, Arizona) – Threat Index Score: 6.5

—Charlotte Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, North Carolina) – Threat Index Score: 6.4

—Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (Detroit, Michigan) – Threat Index Score: 6.4

—General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (Boston, Masachusetts) – Threat Index Score: 6.4

Want to plan your next trip through some of the country’s safer airports?

According to Coronet, the best choices are Chicago’s Midway, where the Threat Index is 4.5 and Raleigh Durham International with a score of 4.9.

When connecting to public Wi-Fi you put three things at risk: your device, your credentials and your data.

Malicious public Wi-Fi networks look like any other network, according to Liwer. By clicking on ‘accept terms and conditions’ to join, you may be installing malware on your device.

As for your credentials, when connecting to a dangerous network, you could be a victim of Wi-Fi phishing, which involves a hacker creating a webpage that looks just like another one (think the sign-in page for your work email). When your username and password is entered, the reality is you are entering information on a hacker’s site, according to CNBC.

Data meanwhile, is an issue for business travelers who typically are working while passing through airports. Transferring data to or from coworkers on a hacker’s network means the information is going through the hacker’s devices.

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