Business travelers face the risk of data theft when they log on to hotel Internet networks to send data, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.
A direct analysis of the networks available to guests in 46 hotels, supplemented by a survey of 147 U.S. hotels, found that a majority of the hotels are not using all the possible tools to maintain network security. The researchers found that about 20 percent of the 147 hotels surveyed still use simple hub-type systems, which are most vulnerable to hacking. Of the 39 hotels that offered Wi-Fi connections, only six used encryption to help protect the system.
“On balance, we were forced to conclude that guests’ data transmissions are often at risk when they use a hotel’s network,” said Erica L. Wagner, assistant professor at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. “However, we did find hotels that were paying attention to the security of their guests’ data.” The report highlights a case study of the W Dallas-Victory hotel, which has set up each node on its network as a virtual local area network, separating each guest’s computer in a way that should protect against stolen data, the report noted.
“Hotel Network Security: A Study of Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels" is available at no charge at www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2008.html.
