Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Wi-Fi Plan Draws Critics

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to bring public Internet access to the five boroughs is raising concerns among cybersecurity experts and elected officials. The initiative would build one of the world’s largest municipal Wi-Fi networks -- an experiment that could backfire, analysts said, if hackers access massive troves of personal data.

“If [city officials] are not extraordinarily careful, they’re opening up Pandora’s box,” said Timothy P. Ryan, managing director of cyber-investigations at Kroll, a risk-management firm. The initiative will replace the city’s pay phones with some 10,000 so-called Link machines, Wi-Fi hubs with phone capabilities, streaming advertisements and cellular-phone chargers. The project will cost about $200 million, officials said, with a consortium of companies involved in the project sharing the ad revenue with the city. No taxpayer money will be used for construction, officials said.