Chennai MTC Assigns Unique Passwords to 1,654 Bus LED Boards After Hacking Incident

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) in Chennai has strengthened the Wi-Fi system across its bus fleet by designating separate, unique passwords to every bus that it operates in a bid to tackle the hacking of software on digital route boards. The decision was taken after an unauthorized tampering incident was reported on a city bus last week.

The incident occurred last week when unknown persons tampered with the LED route board of one MTC bus to display ‘Thakkali Vettri Kazhagam’ to mock the ruling TVK. Following the unauthorized display change, a senior MTC official confirmed that the transport corporation has filed an official police complaint with the Cybercrime wing against the unknown persons who tampered with the board.

Earlier, outsiders could easily connect to the Wi-Fi 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 network and accessing the board software.

To further safeguard the display systems, software data is now sent to bus depots through more secured methods so that outsiders cannot access them. The official added that these updated transmission measures will protect the software data from unauthorized external access.

Presently, as many as 1,654 MTC buses operating in Chennai are equipped with LED route boards. The maintenance of these digital route boards across the fleet is handled by two private firms.

A senior MTC official stated that notices have been served to the two private firms that maintain the route boards. In addition, stricter protocols are now in place to monitor the employees of the two private firms involved in the maintenance of the boards to ensure full security.