Gujarat to Become Wi-Fi Secure State

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Aug. 31 – Gujarat is set to become the country’s first Wi-Fi secure state after it was found that most terrorist emails in bomb blast cases were sent via unsecured Wi-Fi connections.

India’s Department of Telecommunications has already released new compliance requirements for Wi-Fi and ISP for public places, homes and other businesses. Elitcore Technologies Limited (ETL) will be partnering with BSNL to make Wi-Fi hotspots secure beginning with past terror attack target, Gujarat.

“There are several two and five-star facilities in Gujarat. It is increasingly important for them to have secure Wi-Fi connections,” L K Pathak, a senior manager with ETL told Express News Service. Wi-Fi users will now need to log on through a centralized ETL server.

He added: “We have tied up with BNSL to provide technology, where the security would be at the service providers’ end. Each subscriber of the ISP would have to buy a card, which will allow access to internet at the Wi-Fi spots. This would provide them with a unique ID. With the help of this ID, the person would be able to log on to the Internet.”

He further said: “Earlier, the security was aimed at stonewalling the attack on computers through Internet, therefore firewalls were needed. Now, it is the connection and not the computer which is under threat. We are making the connections secure.”

ETL also partnered Reliance and Tata to secure Wi-Fi networks. Companies using leased lines for their internet connections are advised to secure their Wi-Fi routers.

Last year,56 people were killed and 200 were  injured when 21 bomb attacks hit Gujarat’s city of Ahmedabad. It was reported that emails were sent to various news agencies warning of the bombings and attributing the attacks to the group called the Indian Mujahideen.