Mumbai:
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| Residents of Kalpataru Habitate with the instruments to detect unsecure Wi-Fi network Pics/ Nimesh Dave |
Here's a first in Mumbai: Taking a lesson from the Ken Haywood episode, the residents of Kalpataru Habitate in Parel have planned to work towards minimising hacker threats by keeping a check on any unsecured Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network in their society and, if detected, take appropriate measures before it's too late.
The man instrumental in initialising this process is resident Vijay Mukhi, a tech-wizard. In the society's annual general meeting, he discussed the concept of keeping a check on Wi-Fi network in the society and all the members immediately accepted his suggestions. The society has around 148 houses and nearly 40 per cent of them use a Wi-Fi network at homes.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to the threats around us. We have to learn to protect our e-assets ourselves. So as a housing society, we would like to be the first building in India to have our entire wireless network secured. We hope other housing societies follow suit," says Mukhi.
He adds, "Since we install Wi-Fi networks, it's only right that we takes measures to secure them as well. Why expect the government or the police to secure them for us? It's our problem and we need to find a solution."
Here's how they plan to execute their plan: At the end of the day, every watchman will scan the entire building with a Wi-Fi locator and make sure that there isn't a Wi-Fi network that is unsecured. If and when he does find one, he will bring this to the notice of the manager.
Anand Desai, a cyber law expert, has been roped in to appraise the Kalpataru Habitate residents on the legal aspects.
Unfortunately, irrespective of the Haywood episode, many Mumbaikars still use Wi-Fi network in an unsecured mode. A house that has more than one computer accessing Internet has to use a wireless router. Even if a family has just one computer, many prefer to Wi-Fi the house because it gives the user the mobility to move around the house with the laptop.
What experts say
If this continues in every society, it will greatly contribute to the effort of government and security agencies to prevent terrorism."
- Hemant Karkare, Joint Commissioner of Police (ATS)
"Though the idea sounds interesting, it does not seem to have a long term feasibility impact."
-Advocate Vinod Sampat, President Co-operative Society Residents and Users Welfare Association
Tips to safe usage of Wi-Fi network
> Keep your Wi-Fi router away from walls
> Change all the default settings, including the network name
> Enable MAC address filtering
> Enable WPA encryption
> Switch off the router when not in use
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