Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com

Hotel Wi-Fi is Potentially Unsafe for Guests

As it is mentioned in Wired, hundreds of hotels around the world provide Wi-Fi that is not safe and vulnerable to “serious hacks”. The problem was detected by the security firm Cylance. They found serious authentication vulnerability in InnGate routers manufactured by ANTlabs. These routers are prone to attacks that give hackers full access to the root file system of the device. After that hackers can change configuration and copy their data to the device. The files copied can then infect computers that use such Wi-Fi.

In addition to infecting computers, hackers can potentially capture all transactions and communications done by users. It is also possible to add malware onto laptops and mobile devices of hotel guests, so they will be forced to browse malicious websites when they connect to the Wi-Fi system of the hotel. This is a dangerous vulnerability, and hotel managers should take it with all seriousness as it is mentioned in Wired.

The router vulnerability is dangerous to hotels as well. Hackers can use it to intrude into business systems, such as the PMS, and use it to steal booking details and credit card data of guests. Therefore, hotel owners should check what model of Wi-Fi routers they are using and if it’s InnGate by ANTlabs, they should apply the manufacturer’s security patch right away. Researchers at Cylance have reportedly found 277 devices in 29 countries that can be accessed over the Internet. The devices with vulnerability were found mostly at hotels and at some trading centers.

20.04.2015

Previous article / Back to news index

Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, reports, and news about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com.