Public Wi-Fi in airports might seen like a godsend to business travelers and weary parents. But it’s often a fast lane for hackers to access your information.
Cloud security company Coronet has compiled a list of America’s most cyber insecure airports. And nowhere is worse than San Diego.
Coronet looked at data from the 45 busiest airports over a five-month period, starting in January, then gave each airport a threat index score, based on the device vulnerability and Wi-Fi network risks.
“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 International Airport’s score was a 10 out of 10, notably higher than any other airport. There, says Coronet, a Wi-Fi access point with the name “#SANfreewifi” was running an ARP Poisoning attack. (While it appeared to users to be an airport-sanctioned free Wi-Fi server, it was not.) The odds of connecting to a medium-risk network in San Diego’s airport are 30%, while the odds of connecting to a high risk one are 11%. No other airport comes close to those high-risk odds.
Here’s a look at the 10 most vulnerable airports:
- San Diego International (San Diego) – Threat Index Score: 10
- John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport (Santa Ana, Calif.) – Threat Index Score: 8.7
- William P Hobby Airport (Houston) – Threat Index Score: 7.5
- Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers, Fla.) – Threat Index Score: 7.1
- Newark Liberty International Airport (Newark, N.J.) – Threat Index Score: 7.1
- Dallas Love Field (Dallas) – Threat Index Score: 6.8
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix) – Threat Index Score: 6.5
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, N.C.) – Threat Index Score: 6.4
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (Detroit) – Threat Index Score: 6.4
- General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (Boston) – Threat Index Score: 6.4
Looking for the safest airports? Those would be Chicago’s Midway (with a Threat Index Score of 4.5) and Raleigh Durham International Airport, with a 4.9.
However, Coronet advises users still exercise caution, even in less vulnerable hubs.