According to a study
published on the creditcards.com around two years back, hotels were found to be the
hotspot for credit card fraud. The same study had indicated that the hotel’s
services were targeted the most-even more than financial service company.
Last month, FTC had filed a complaint against Wyndham
hotels and its subsidiaries for alleged data security failures that led to
three data breaches at Wyndham hotels in less than two years. The FTC
charges that these failures led to fraudulent bills on consumers’ accounts,
millions of dollars in fraud loss, and the export of hundreds of thousands of
consumers’ payment card account information to an Internet domain address
registered in Russia.
This may be a case of misrepresentation of security related
privacy policy by the hotel as alleged by FTC and the problem could have been
avoided by having a well secured system for storing credit card data and
personal information of guests. What would not be possible is restoring the
damage due to such an incidence in the hotel which already had done serious
brand erosion of the hotel.
Others may take it as a lesson and may possibly give
attention to a security assessment of their own systems; there has been another
big door open which has remained invisible to many security experts and
auditors. This is nothing but insecure form of Wi-Fi service being offered in hotels.
In the past, guests had option to use wired internet connection
available inside rooms to have safe and secure browsing. But lately, due to high
adoption rate of smart mobile devices which can only be used with wireless
networks (either Wi-Fi or cellular) to go online. This implies, guests are
increasingly going to use the same insecure wireless hotspots installed in the
hotels for their personal and professional requirements which at times might include
credit card or bank account transaction apart from other private and
confidential data. Transmission of any such data in insecure Wi-Fi hotspots is
available in air and can be captured with no or little effort.
Most hotels across the globe provide similar form of Wi-Fi
internet service inside hotels and which means no data privacy to their guests.
A wireless hacking incidence in any star hotel can also lead to credit card
theft, though might not be as voluminous in nature as it was in the case of
Wyndham hotel, and hotel may also be able to avoid fine or penalty for the loss
of guest’s credit card data as they do provide warning to their users about
insecurity of wireless service, what they may never be able to do is saving
hotel from brand name erosion due to such an incidence if it happens.
Wi-Fi technology has undergone a lot of advancement in
recent years and with Airegis proprietary technology it is possible to offer
truly robust Wi-Fi service to guests. One of the key advantages of Airegis
solution is that it does not require installation of any custom made software
or apps on the client device. So, users with any Wi-Fi certified device can
connect to Airegis powered Wi-Fi hotspots and browse internet without worrying
about wireless threats and data privacy.
It is high time for the hospitality industry to sacrifice
the decade old Wi-Fi hotspot system, adopt and upgrade their wireless
infrastructure with the Wi-Fi hotspot technology available today and let
their guests wear the same wireless security cover that they use when they are
at home or in the office. Ultimately, Guest is King!
