![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/beacon_white.png)
![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/logo-white.png)
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Tuesday it has teamed up with the city of Los Angeles to launch a free mobile security app — to protect people in L.A. County from cybersecurity threats on public WiFi systems.
“Providing a safe and secure environment for Los Angeles County’s 10 million residents to live and work is becoming just as important online as it has always been offline,” said Metro Board Chair and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis.
“As L.A. County continues to expand public Wi-Fi access, including on its entire fleet of Metro buses, LA Secure offers an industry-leading technology to ensure all the activity they conduct on their mobile devices remains safe, private and secure.”
Officials say the “LA Secure” app will provide immediate protection against new and evolving threats on both for iPhone and Android mobile devices. Once the app is downloaded, it alerts the user to threats in real time and offers information about how to proceed. If someone attempts to connect to a rogue WiFi network, the app will immediately notify the user about the security risk. The app also provides protection against “phishing” — emails designed to fraudulently gather personal information.
“The city and county of Los Angeles have a responsibility to protect residents in both the physical and the digital realms — and it’s a responsibility we take very seriously,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “Through LA Secure, we’re making good on that commitment and empowering people with the resources they need to stay safe online.”
Metro said the app is part of a series of customer experience improvements, and all of its more than 2,300 transit buses already have free WiFi access. Cyber attackers increasingly target mobile devices because they do not have the same protections as desktops and laptop computers, Metro warned. Meanwhile, nearly half of all web traffic in the U.S. is done on mobile devices and smart phones, according to Metro.
“We are excited to offer the gift of online security to our customers this holiday season. We see LA Secure as another opportunity to provide greater access and equity for our transit customers, many of whom are low- income, do not have their own access to Internet services and depend greatly on public Wi-Fi services,” Metro CEO Stephanie N. Wiggins said. “We believe everyone deserves to have a secure online experience on our system and look forward to promoting privacy protections available through this important program.”
The “LA Secure” app was developed by Zimperium. People can download it for free on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
We are able to provide high-quality political journalism to you for free thanks to our advertisers. So that you can continue to enjoy HEYSOCAL's in-depth reporting, we ask that you please turn off your ad blocker and come on in, free of charge.
Subscribe to our newsletter for this giveaway and many more. Also, stay in the loop for SoCal news and updates.
Your subscription has been confirmed. You've been added to our list and will hear from us soon.
Your request has been confirmed! We will get in touch with you shortly.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Essential Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Essential Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
You can find more information about our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy