CHENNAI: In a bid to tackle the hacking of software of route boards, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has strengthened the Wi-Fi system by designating separate passwords to every bus that it operates.
Moreover, a senior MTC official said notices have been served to the private firms that maintain the route boards apart from filing a police complaint with the Cybercrime wing against the unknown persons who tampered the board of one bus to display ‘Thakkali Vettri Kazhagam’ to mock at the ruling TVK last week.
Earlier, outsiders could connect to the WiFi network of the buses. After the incident, the MTC has given separate passwords to each of the buses and locked the route boards with the password to prevent outsiders from connecting to the Wi-Fi. Moreover, software data is now sent to the depots through more secured methods so that outsiders cannot access them, the official added.
Presently, as many as 1,654 MTC buses have LED route boards and two firms are maintaining the boards. Stricter protocols are in place to monitor the employees of the two private firms involved in maintenance of the boards.