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from Computerworld on Monday, January 06, 2003

But airport wireless networks still pose security dangers to corporate data.

American Airlines Inc. has taken significant steps to secure wireless bag-matching and curbside check-in operations at Denver International Airport (DIA) that a year ago were found to be highly vulnerable to hackers.

But a test conducted Dec. 20 at the airport by White Hat Technologies Inc., a Westminster, Colo.-based security firm, found that corporate data is still vulnerable throughout airport waiting areas and airline lounges

Last January, Computerworld reported on a similar test conducted by White Hat that discovered American had been operating wireless LANs without any encryption in its section of the DIA terminal and had even pasted the IP addresses of curbside terminals on the monitors [QuickLink 26374].

A Positive Sign

In what appears to be a positive sign that airlines are beginning to look more closely at the security ramifications of operating wireless systems, last month's test was unable to detect a single airline wireless network operating without encryption protection, said Thubten Comerford, CEO of White Hat. In addition, American had not only removed the IP addresses from its OneStop self-service kiosks, but it had also added Cisco Systems Inc.'s Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) authentication technology on top of the standard 40-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption.

LEAP is an authentication algorithm that leverages the 802.1x framework and provides dynamic, per-user WEP keys to protect data in transit.

Stacey Frantz, a spokeswoman for American, said the changes are the result of a recent re-evaluation of security for all of the airline's wireless curbside check-in and roving-agent systems.

Frantz confirmed that the security fixes are being made at airports nationwide. However, she was unable to elaborate on the status of those fixes at individual airports.

Ongoing Concerns

On the downside, Comerford said White Hat's test of the DIA facility still managed to pick up a suspected rogue access point (AP),as well as a significant number of vulnerable wireless transmissions emanating from public traveler lounges and frequent-flier clubs throughout the airport.

The public areas and most of the airport lounges use the public wireless network operated on behalf of the DIA by AT&T Wireless Services Inc. The American Airlines Admiral's Club lounge uses T-Mobile USA Inc.'s HotSpot public wireless network.

"The biggest danger at DIA is the sniffing of sensitive information being transmitted by travelers," said Comerford. "Few, if any, airports have addressed this security vulnerability, [and] few airports or airlines warn travelers of the danger of using the wireless networks."

In July, the city of Denver and DIA outsourced the airport's public wireless network, known as GoPort, to AT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless' service includes 54 APs spread throughout the DIA terminal and three concourses.

Ritch Blasi, a spokesman for Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T Wireless, acknowledged that the suspected rogue AP found by White Hat didn't belong to AT&T's network. He also said AT&T encrypts all personal user information entered into the system during registration and log-on, including payment information. Any other security precautions are up to the individual user, he said.

Frank Ramirez, director of business products at Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile, said his company is in the process of updating security for 2,000 sites across the country, including American's Admiral's Club at DIA.

In addition to allowing corporate users to take advantage of their own investments in virtual private network technologies while using the T-Mobile network, the company has implemented blocking technology at the AP level, Ramirez said. He explained that users register on the network and get a Medium Access Control address. T-Mobile can block any system that's not recognized.

"We've also implemented network address translation technology to shield the IP addresses of the machines on the network from potential intruders," Ramirez added.

Seth Kulakow, an enterprise security analyst at DIA, said he conducts routine scans looking for suspicious wireless activity throughout the airport and is currently investigating White Hat's discovery of the non-AT&T AP.

Kulakow also acknowledged the need for airports and airlines to post warnings to users about the inherent risks of using public wireless networks. "The airlines should have something like that posted, but they don't," he said.

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