Business travelers may be targeted and hacked through hotel Wi-Fi networks, according to a recent report by Kaspersky Lab. Hackers have been stealing company data from top executives at luxury hotels in an attack known as “Darkhotel.”
The scheme steals information from electronic devices through hotel Wi-Fi. When the traveler target connects to the hotel’s wireless internet, he submits his room number and surname. Darkhotel then invites him to download a backdoor that pretends to be an update for legitimate and common software. Once on the system, the backdoor can log all keystrokes, hunt for passwords, and collect data about the system. Sometimes the malware lurks on the system undetected for months before going to work gathering data.
Targets lose sensitive information, including potentially the intellectual property of their business. After the data has been gathered, Darkhotel deletes the tools and all traces of its work on the device.
These attacks have been happening since 2009, and may continue to this day. Most have occurred in Asian nations such as South Korean, Russia, China, Japan and Taiwan. Hotels in the United States have also had such attacks. The targets have been leaders in a wide range of industries, including defense, electronics manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.
Here are some ways travelers can protect themselves:
-
Avoid public Wi-Fi altogether, or at least regard it as potentially dangerous;
-
When connecting, use a virtual public network, which provides encryption;
-
When traveling, avoid downloading any purported software updates until they can be confirmed as legitimate.
