S Iswaran on protecting mobile devices and data via charging stations and Wi-Fi access points at public transport nodes

There have been no reported attempts to breach Wi-Fi access points or public charging stations at public transport nodes, said Transport Minister S Iswaran. Replying to an MP’s questions in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9), he pointed out that Wi-Fi access points at transport nodes operate via the Wireless@SGx network and comply with the standards of the Infocomm Media Development Authority, while data transmitted on the network is encrypted. Charging stations which are provided by public transport operators can only transmit power and not data to and from the devices. The USB ports in public transport nodes already have their data transmission pins removed. Only power transmission pins are present in the ports. The staff of the public transport operators look out for signs of breaches while closed circuit television cameras can also detect and deter such attempts, said Mr Iswaran.