Recently I flew with Delta Air Lines from Salt Lake City to New York and signed up for their in-flight Wi-Fi. But I never thought I’d be comprising the security of my data on the flight – apparently I was wrong.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, there are a number of potential security issues involved when using in-flight Wi-Fi, and they’re issues that are specific to using the Internet at 30,000 feet above the ground.
Currently, over 50 airlines around the world include Wi-Fi as part of their in-flight entertainment (although most aren’t allowing you to get connected for FREE just yet), and this number is expected to swell as passengers continue to demand its inclusion as a basic part of the flying experience.
Source: http://economydecoded.com
But with “above the cloud” connectivity comes risk, and in recognition of Cyber Security Awareness month in October, let’s delve into why you should be very careful the next time you sign up for in-flight Wi-Fi.
Yep, it’s possible to get hacked on a flight
Source: http://fortune.com
See that guy sitting in 14C with that suspicious look in his eyes?
He may just be watching an episode of Portlandia and wondering whether the portrayal of Oregon’s hipster city is more exaggeration than reality (FYI: it is pretty accurate!).
Or he may actually be hacking your phone or computer and stealing your credit card number and reading all your emails.
This recently happened to a USA Today reporter on an American Airlines flight with Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi, and the way in-flight Wi-Fi is rolling out around the world, these incidents are probably going to become way more common.
Routehappy, a website service that ranks flight amenities, reported back in January 2015 that US passengers have “some chance” of accessing Wi-Fi on flights within the USA two out of three times they fly.
That was more than a year ago, and the stats are probably much higher now. Even here in Australia, our very own Qantas will soon be offering in-flight Wi-Fi to passengers later this year, so we better educate ourselves on the risks involved.
Is there more of a chance being hacked in the air than on the ground?
Source: http://www.godsavethepoints.com
In short: Yes.
According to the team behind NordVPN, an app available for Mac, Android and iOS, onboard Wi-Fi is much more susceptible to being hacked than on the ground. This is because passengers using in-flight Wi-Fi are confined to a restricted space for relatively long stretches of time, which gives hackers opportunity after opportunity to work their magic in stealing important information.
Just to be clear, ALL public Wi-Fi signals are subject to cyber attacks – including the free signal at your local cafe. But because hackers have more time to try out multiple attacks on your device before the flight touches down, using the net in the air is particularly risky.
Even GoGo, one of the most popular in-flight internet service providers, acknowledges that the information you send over the plane’s Wi-Fi network can be easily intercepted…
What can you do to protect yourself in the air?
Source: www.britishairways.com
Using a reputable VPN service will protect you from cyber criminals by hiding your IP address and encrypting all the data transmitted between the internet and your device – think of it as a shield that protects your data every step of the way, from transmission to reception.
Users should also ensure that file-sharing is not enabled on their device, that a working firewall is installed on their laptops, and that their device software is up-to-date.
But the very best advice is to simply refrain from accessing private or sensitive information on an aircraft’s Wi-Fi network.
Leave that important stuff until you get home or at least on the ground.
