Guests connect to hotel Wi-Fi expecting a straightforward and trusted internet experience. They use it to access email, corporate applications, banking services, travel platforms, cloud services, and many other online resources without needing to think about how their traffic is being routed behind the scenes.
For hotel IT teams, however, protecting that experience requires attention to the infrastructure and operational practices that support guest connectivity. One security threat worth understanding is DNS poisoning.
DNS is responsible for translating familiar website and service names into the network addresses required to reach them. In a DNS poisoning attack, DNS information is manipulated so that users attempting to reach a legitimate online service may instead be directed to an unintended or malicious destination. Similar outcomes may also occur if an attacker gains sufficient access to alter DNS-related network configuration.
A fraudulent destination could be designed to imitate a legitimate login or authentication page and attempt to capture usernames, passwords, authentication tokens, or other sensitive information. In a hospitality environment, where a single network may serve hundreds or thousands of guest devices, good security hygiene around DNS and the wider network infrastructure is therefore important.
ANTlabs’ Assessment
The ANTlabs Product team has reviewed this threat in the context of our hospitality Wi-Fi gateway deployments.
At the time of publication, we are not aware of any confirmed incidents involving ANTlabs gateways in this attack scenario, nor are we aware of an ANTlabs product vulnerability specifically associated with DNS poisoning.
We are sharing this article as security awareness guidance for our customers and partners because DNS poisoning illustrates a broader principle that applies to any well-managed hospitality network: security depends not only on individual products, but also on how administrative access, network configuration, segmentation, software maintenance, monitoring, and the surrounding infrastructure are managed.
Hotel networks also change constantly. New access points are added, equipment is replaced, service providers change, remote management requirements evolve, and new applications or cloud services are introduced. Maintaining good security hygiene throughout those changes helps reduce the opportunity for unauthorized configuration or access to become a wider problem.
Five Security Practices We Recommend
From the ANTlabs Product team’s perspective, hotel IT teams should pay particular attention to five practical areas.
1. Protect administrative access
Gateway and network management interfaces should be accessible only to authorized administrators and trusted management networks. Guest devices should not be able to reach administrative interfaces or infrastructure that has no reason to be exposed to the guest network.
Strong, unique administrator credentials should also be used, with access reviewed when staff responsibilities change or when third-party service relationships end. This is particularly important in hospitality environments where responsibility for the network may be shared between hotel IT, corporate teams, managed service providers, system integrators, and technology vendors.
2. Keep the network environment current
Applicable software updates, firmware releases, and security patches should be reviewed and deployed as part of normal network maintenance.
This applies not only to the hospitality gateway but also to the wider infrastructure supporting guest connectivity, including access points, switches, firewalls, management systems, servers, and other relevant components.
Security is strongest when the complete environment is maintained rather than relying on one device or security feature to protect the entire network.
3. Know and protect the expected DNS configuration
Hotel IT teams should know which DNS servers and related network settings are expected within their environment.
Unexpected changes to DNS server addresses, forwarding settings, DHCP-related configuration, or other name-resolution settings should be investigated. Maintaining a documented configuration baseline can make this much easier, particularly for hotel groups or managed environments operating across multiple properties.
The same principle applies more broadly to important gateway and network settings. Knowing what the network is supposed to look like makes unauthorized or unexplained changes easier to identify.
4. Maintain separation between guest and management networks
Hospitality networks are intentionally open to large numbers of devices that the hotel does not own or control. Guests may connect phones, laptops, tablets, streaming devices, watches, and other equipment, with the device population changing every day.
Appropriate network segmentation helps keep that openness where it belongs. Guest traffic should be separated from management networks, administrative systems, and internal hotel resources according to the property’s network design and security requirements.
Good segmentation can also limit the potential impact of a compromised account, device, or network segment by preventing unnecessary access to other parts of the environment.
5. Monitor for unexpected changes and behavior
Hotel network monitoring should look beyond whether the Wi-Fi is simply available.
Unexpected DNS destinations, unexplained changes to gateway or network configuration, unusual redirects, administrative activity from unexpected sources, or repeated guest reports of suspicious login or certificate behavior can all indicate that something deserves further investigation.
These symptoms do not automatically mean that a hospitality gateway has been compromised. The cause may be elsewhere in the network, in upstream infrastructure, on an endpoint, or in an unauthorized configuration change. What matters is having enough visibility to identify what changed and investigate it promptly.
If You Suspect DNS Poisoning
If guests begin reporting unexpected redirects or legitimate services appear to resolve incorrectly, the investigation should start by comparing the current network state against the expected configuration.
Hotel IT teams may need to review DNS settings, gateway configuration, administrative activity, recent network changes, traffic behavior, and other relevant infrastructure. Depending on the environment, the investigation may involve internal IT, a managed service provider, system integrator, security team, or other technology vendors.
ANTlabs customers who identify suspicious DNS behavior or require assistance reviewing relevant ANTlabs product configuration can contact ANTlabs Support through the normal support channels. Our team can help customers understand expected ANTlabs product behavior and review relevant configuration and deployment practices.
Security Hygiene Matters Beyond DNS Poisoning
DNS poisoning is one example of how an attacker may try to interfere with a user’s network experience, but the security practices that help reduce this risk extend well beyond DNS.
Controlled administrative access, known and trusted configurations, appropriate segmentation, timely software maintenance, reduced exposure of unnecessary services, and effective monitoring all contribute to a stronger hospitality network.
For hotel IT teams, these controls also need to remain practical. Guest networks must continue to support changing occupancy levels, large numbers of unmanaged devices, remote support requirements, cloud applications, and an expanding range of digital guest services.
The objective is therefore not to add complexity for its own sake. It is to maintain an environment where the architecture is understood, administrative access is controlled, important changes are visible, and the underlying infrastructure is kept current.
Threats and attack techniques will continue to evolve. The discipline of knowing how the network should behave, controlling who can change it, limiting unnecessary access, and investigating unexpected behavior remains one of the most useful foundations for secure hospitality connectivity.
This article provides general security awareness and best-practice guidance for hospitality Wi-Fi deployments. It does not replace an organization’s security policies, regulatory requirements, network security controls, or incident-response procedures. Customers should assess their own network architecture, operating environment, and risk profile when determining the appropriate security controls for their deployment.
Talk to our team to build your secure, scalable hospitality platform today.
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