Research has been released identifying San Diego International Airport, John Wayne Airport-Orange County (CA) International Airport and Houston’s William P. Hobby International Airport as America’s most cyber insecure airports.
Commenting on the news and offering advice to travellers is Lane Thames, Senior Security Researcher at Tripwire.
Lane Thames, Senior Security Researcher at Tripwire:
“When traveling, there are always security risks to take into consideration for connected devices even when at the airport. Before you leave a secure environment, check your device’s software is up to date and consider removing older applications that you no longer use. It’s common for airports to have public WiFi but avoid using public WiFi hotspots unless extremely necessary. The reason being public WiFi hotspots usually have no encryption. As such, malicious actors within a certain physical distance from you can eavesdrop on your communications. If you do use public WiFi, try to use it only for basic browsing and applications which do not involve submitting personal data. Even better, consider using a VPN service when using a public WiFi and try to use HTTPS when possible. Lastly, always activate security services that are available as this can significantly help reduce the threat of an attack. This could include ensuring there is a PIN or a passphrase to unlock the device as well as enabling 2FA on applications that support it.
