Securing Smart Cities has released guidelines jointly developed by Securing Smart Cities and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).
The guide provides organizations with an overview of the key elements needed in order to implement the best technological solutions with a lower risk and exposure to cyber-threats.
The global smart cities market is expected to grow from $411.31 billion in 2014 to $1,134.84 billion by 2019, the industry group said. Cities are adopting new capabilities that offer great potential to enhance citizen safety, streamline and improve customer services and reduce overall expenditures. These new smart cities are leading the way towards the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that will connect widespread sensors through the cloud to harvest relevant data and automate decision-making processes. Smart cities bring great promise, however there is also risk introduced through this new connectivity and intelligence.
“Humanity has decided to create a Utopia we call the smart city,” said Mohamad Amin Hasbini, Securing Smart Cities contributor and security expert at Kaspersky Lab. “This Utopia will advance our growth and performance to unprecedented levels, enabled by information systems and technologies. Its creation is an immense commitment and challenge for everyone involved, from citizens to organizations. We need to best develop, operate and defend our resources, in the most effective way, by selecting the most efficient and secure technologies.”
The document also provides guidelines for public and private organizations when planning and organizing the selection and validation of smart city technologies. It describes the types of testing and assessments that need to be considered when selecting the best and most secure vendors and technologies.
“Technology is already at the core of our cities as the world becomes more connected, and it’s extremely important that it is well protected and secure if we don’t want to end up in chaos,” said Cesar Cerrudo, Securing Smart Cities board member and CTO for IOActive. “Cities around the world are currently widely open to cyber-attacks. These guidelines we have put together are a useful and practical resource for organizations around the world to achieve secure technology adoption and to make cities more secure.”
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