Hotel Network Security: A Study of Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels

Given the discussions about Firesheep, I thought it would be interesting to point to a study I did a couple of years ago while at Cornell regarding hotel network security.

Link: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/abstract-14928.html

(you can also find it without permission on scribd)

The outcome: it's terrible. Roughly 85% were using outdated and/or insecure setups (hub-based topology, unencrypted wireless, connecting payment- and guest-networks to each other, etc.).

There was some amount of backlash from the hotel industry, but an informal follow-up has shown that there really has been very little change. Maybe Firesheep will help change that?