Not All Hotel Internet Connections Are Created Equal...

A recent report by Government Computer News sheds light on a topic that millions of people all over the world deal with on a regular basis: Internet privacy and security in the hotel industry. People have many different reasons to travel, but with the modern tech-era upon us one of the most frequently asked questions when booking a hotel is: "Do you have Internet?" That answer is most likely a, "yes."

Internet access allows you to be more productive during your trip and stay in touch with the rest of the world that isn't traveling with you, but just how safe is that Internet connection? According to researchers: Not very. Most of the Internet connections are not properly secured and leave you at risk for a number of privacy risks. Researchers gathered written information from147 hotels and personally visited other properties and the findings were quite astounding.

Roughly 20% of all hotels used simple network hubs to connect guests to the Internet. This means 20% of the hotels you have ever stayed at are allowing you to connect to an unsecured network where all the packets of data being sent over the network can be seen. Anyone else on that network can access your personal data via the network connection. Ideally, hotels should have security features implemented so only the packets associated with your session should be seen. No other users should have access to the data. This would stop an "interloper" from using a program that saves all packets being sent over the network.

Of the hotels that do offer Internet access, 90% of them allow guests to connect wirelessly. This adds an extra layer of protection since they have to use a router to get the signal out. While this is an advanced security measure, it still does not mean a user is protecting their personal information. Man-in-the-middle attacks are still possible, and almost 21% of hotels have reported attacks and malicious activity on their systems. Man-in-the-middle attacks allow an attacker's computer to act as an Internet gateway and intercepts all network traffic.

Researchers visited 46 hotels and found that six of the 39 hotels using wireless Internet used encryption methods on their network. Only six properties thought of going above and beyond their Linksys router and securing their network! Anyone using a hotel's Internet connection should assume the worse and hope for the best. An anonymous proxy server will definitely help keep you protected from an unsecured wireless network since it encrypts all the data you send before it reaches the Internet gateway.