NYC to boost citywide Wi-Fi protection

Free smartphone app and new security for public Wi-Fi networks will aim to protect citizens online.

New York aims to become the first city in the world to provide free, highly secure Wi-Fi services to all residents and visitors free of charge.

Announcing the initiative — called NYC Secure — New York’s Mayor, Bill de Blasio, said the aim is to protect citizens from malicious cyber activity on mobile devices, across public Wi-Fi networks and beyond.

As the first step in an evolving suite of solutions, NYC Secure will include a free smartphone app that will issue warnings to users when suspicious activity is detected on their mobile devices.

There will also be a new layer of protection for the city’s public Wi-Fi networks.

“Our streets are already the safest of any big city in the country — now we’re bringing that same commitment to protecting New Yorkers into cyberspace,” said Mayor de Blasio.

“New Yorkers manage so much of their lives online, from paying bills, to applying for jobs, to engaging with government.

The effort will be led by NYC Cyber Command (NYC3), which is in charge of citywide cyber defence and incident responses, mitigation of cyber threats and provision of guidance to the Mayor and City agencies.

Taking advantage of public-private partnerships, NYC Cyber Command works with more than 100 agencies and offices to protect, detect, respond and recover from threats. It also sets information security policies and standards.

“NYC Secure will ensure that we’re applying the best and most effective protection efforts to help New Yorkers defend themselves online,” said Mayor de Blasio.

Geoff Brown, the city’s chief information security officer and head of NYC3, said, “In order to stay a step ahead of cybercriminals that are continuously finding new ways to hack devices, we must invest in the safety of the digital lives of our residents.

“While no individual is immune to cybersecurity threats, this program will add an extra layer of security to personal devices that often house a huge amount of sensitive data,” he added.

The smartphone app, which will be available in the middle of the year, will identify malicious attacks and warn users of attempts to compromise their device.

Users will receive recommendations such as disconnecting from a malicious Wi-Fi network, navigating away from a compromised website or uninstalling a malicious app.

The app will not take actions on the phone by itself. It will operate according to a strict privacy policy with layers of technical controls to ensure user privacy is respected, and it will not collect or transmit any private data.

The City will reinforce its Wi-Fi networks by adding a new layer of security to protect users from downloading malicious software such as ransomware or from accessing phishing websites.

NYC3 has mandated the deployment of the technology across all ‘guest’ and public Wi-Fi networks provided by New York agencies and related entities by the end of the year.

Eighteen agencies and offices already use the protection on their internal networks, with the remainder of internal networks due to deploy it by the end of 2018.

The technology will also be used on the LinkNYC network, which has 1400 free Wi-Fi kiosks and millions of users.

Image courtesy NYC Mayor's office.

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Originally published here.