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The twin terror mails that came as silent ushers of the Ahmedabad bomb blasts
last month added a fresh chapter to cyber terrorism in India. Not only were they
a clear indicator of the increasing number of tech-savvy terrorists, they also
bared the vulnerability of the Internet medium in protecting its users against
unwanted and prying eyes. Two mails, one remotely sent by hacking into an
unprotected home Wi-Fi connection, and the other from an equally unprotected
Wi-Fi network of a college were sent to select media houses across India
claiming responsibility for the Ahmedabad blasts. The common thread in the story
is the vulnerable Wi-Fi network and the fact that both mails had their source in
Mumbai.
All this came at a bad time, especially when the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation had just finished announcing its ambitious plans to implement Wi-Fi
across Mumbai to deliver e-governance initiatives to its citizens. Though these
plans were in the pipeline for about two years, it was declared technically
feasible only recently. Recently, there have been heated debates within the
relatively educated class of Mumbaites and the IT fraternity over BMCs plans;
the broad security concerns associated with the project; and BMCs capability to
skip the bureaucratic tradition and turn this mega-project into a reality.
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The Project Plan
BMC is planning to initiate a Rs 50 crore Wi-Fi project based on a
public-private partnership model. Although the project proposal is still in its
nascent stage and tenders will be invited only next month, the civic body has
already announced that it will take up the responsibility of erecting towers,
while service providers will pool in the funds. To get the Wi-Fi connectivity up
and running, towers will be erected throughout the cityin the suburbs, as well
as the outskirts. The pre-requisites such as roadmap detailing, the licensing,
positioning of hotspots, hardware and software requirements, and survey of the
city for setting up the towers will all be spelt out once the service providers
have been selected. We do not have to spend on anything except the towers. The
service providers will put in the money and some part of the profits they make
will be given to the BMC, says Anil Diggikar, additional municipal
commissioner, BMC.
The Science and Technology Park, University of Pune is BMCs knowledge
partner on the project. STP has been working on a similar project for
Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)where tenders have already been
floated and will soon be implemented. Hence, BMC plans to take some cues from
PCMC and build on them further. In Mumbai, it will be a larger scheme as the
city covers an area of 437 sq km, almost three times greater than PCMC that is
just 171 sq km, said Rajendra Jagdale, director general, STP.
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| we have to identify a number of
smaller players, incubate them, provide them the technology skills, and
convert them into effective service providers
Rajendra Jagdale, director general, Science
and Technology Park, University of Pune |
The BMC plans to provide log-in
IDs to only those who are residents of Mumbai. For this they will have to
track and screen thousands of identity proofs and documents
Vijay Mukhi, cyber-security expert
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The BMC will not be engaging with any of the leading telecom service
providers for the project as it plans to provide more than mere Internet
connectivity to its citizens. Most large vendors simply want to set up a
network and establish Internet connectivity. They still dont have the
capability to provide services such as video-on-demand, IPTV, VoIP, etc at a
city-wide scale. So we have to identify a number of smaller players, incubate
them, provide them the technology skills, and convert them into effective
service providers, says Jagdale.
As knowledge partners, the STP will conceive the entire project. It will
carry out the physical ground survey to understand the number of towers
required, the number of customers and services equipments required, and how the
entire radio network will function. It will not only design the network but will
also design a benefit relation plan before setting up the network. It will
conduct a complete stakeholder analysis from a common vendor, to school
students, teachers, senior citizens, SMEs, and municipal administrative bodies.
It will assess the needs of citizens on connectivity, bandwidth, and services,
and then come up with a RFP. Around 60% of the assessment on infrastructure
requirements has already been done. We have already initiated the stakeholder
analysis, says Jagdale.
| FICCI &
Maharashtra Police Join Hands |
| In the wake of the recent terrorist
attacks, FICCI and the Maharashtra Police have taken up the responsibility
to educate the citizens of Mumbai, and help them take control of securing
their own Wi-Fi networks. This initiative is the brainchild of AN Roy, DGP,
Maharashtra Police, and D Sivanandhan, commissioner, intelligence along with
Sushil Jiwarajka of FICCI. Going forward, FICCI has requested Indu Shahani,
the Sheriff of Mumbai to lead this movement. As a first step toward
creating awareness at the grass-root level, FICCI and the Mumbai police in
conjunction with the local IT community (vendors and cyber security experts)
have released a series of documents that state the Dos and Donts of
Wi-Fi security and some best practices. These documents have been circulated
among the local colleges, schools, offices, and even the media, inviting
feedback from them on how to further improve the security measures. As each
and every Wi-Fi router has its own unique user interface, the members of
this movement also plan to come out with a detailed How-To document that
explains how an individual user can secure a Wi-Fi router without any
additional help. Apart from this, cyber-security experts plan to organise
workshops at some of the prominent colleges in Mumbai to educate the
students on the nuances of Wi-Fi security; and also invite them to become
ambassadors to further spread the awareness within the city.
Wireless Networks: Dos & Donts
- Before using your wireless router turn on security
- Use WPA (Wi-Fi protected access) and not the older WEP (wired
equivalent privacy) security
- Turn on media access control (MAC) address
- Change the Web administrators password
- Change the SSID (secure set identifier), which is the router name that
is broadcasted to all at regular intervals
- Turn off SSID broadcasts so that the attacker finds it difficult to
locate the wireless router
- Place the router in a physically secure place
- Turn off file and printer sharing
- Change the client side IP address
- Upgrade to the latest software and hardware
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The Scope
The project will enable citizens in the entire 400 sq km area of Mumbai with
Intranet facility that will have a Wi-Fi mesh combination. To access the
Intranet, one should have a login ID and a password, which will be provided by
the BMC and service provider. The Wi-Fi is claimed to be ubiquitous with at
least 10 Mbps bandwidth. While its compatibility with different mobile devices
and service providers is being tested at the moment, it is said to be compatible
with both open source platforms such as Linux, as well as Windows.
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