Next-generation IP data and voice network gateway safeguards hotel and guest data with unrivaled security protocols that prevent online security breaches.

Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of Internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, continues to strengthen the ability of hotel properties and companies to protect sensitive online data, thanks to its secure and reliable FUSION Gateway solution. FUSION is a proprietary and proven IP and voice network gateway that continuously evolves its encryption and other security protocols, in order to fend off the latest threats to online security.

As news of online security vulnerabilities and data theft continues to resurface time and again throughout the hospitality industry, FUSION serves as a vital line of defense against the increasing scale of network attacks. Engineered by programmers with decades of experience in the security industry, FUSION is unique in its capabilities to shield customers during the most sensitive of data transactions, such as when guests provide personal credit or banking data to hotels. For instance, FUSION receives continuous software updates to ensure that every aspect of the system is as up-to-date on the latest known vulnerabilities as possible. This is accomplished by the platform’s ability to analyze which weaknesses have been exploited by hackers in the past, and revising its programming accordingly. FUSION also goes a step further by anticipating potential factors and vulnerabilities that may lead to a future online attack, and taking steps to prevent them.

“The FUSION Gateway really raises the bar on what hotels should demand and expect from their IP and voice network providers, when it comes to effective security,” said Trevor Dowswell, Chief Technology Officer at Hotel Internet Services. “Not only is the solution PCI compliant, it is an application layer, transport layer and IP layer firewall, allowing finite control of every packet and its destination. Combined with exact, and security conscious, installation standards, the FUSION Gateway was designed to ensure that each network segment is strictly segregated and off-limits to all other traffic. For example, hotels that use our solution are confident that administrative data is kept completely separate from guest data traffic, and therefore the risk of sensitive information being unintentionally shared or falling into the wrong hands is eliminated.”

As a result of not relying on open-source SSL, FUSION customers were fortunately immune to any negative fallout from 2014’s catastrophic “Heartbleed” security bug that resulted in consumer data being breached at companies around the world. FUSION is also specifically formulated to withstand commonly used hacking tactics, such as a “brute force dictionary attack.” This is a scenario where hackers use software to input a multitude of different word combinations to penetrate the security of a system. Under such an attack, FUSION can resist an onslaught of 100,000 word attempts an hour for an entire year. It is also invulnerable to “denial of service” attacks, where hackers initiate so many requests for service that a system cannot recognize legitimate requests, and subsequently fails.

“For an added layer of security, FUSION can also create a private network for each hotel guest, if desired,” said Rafael van deb Berg, Operations Director at Hotel Internet Services. “This feature allows guests to log in, enter passwords and use personal devices with complete peace-of-mind.”

Also serving to enhance convenience, FUSION’s “at home experience” feature provides guests with a virtual network that allows them to securely access their devices from anywhere throughout a property. Guests visiting the pool area for instance, are able to print documents remotely by sending a request to their printer located in their guestroom and connected to their personal network. A guest that inadvertently left a device behind in their guestroom may also be able to retrieve vital documents by initiating a secure file transfer. The service can also shield properties from unauthorized guest activities, such as illegal downloads. Instead of running the risk of having online access turned off by an Internet Service Provider, hoteliers can automatically prevent illegal activity in a manner that is both highly effective and considerate of guest privacy.

Source: http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/global/154000320/4073996.html