Civic leaders around the world are looking to automate the infrastructures that make their cities run in a drive to reduce costs and cope with rising populations. From transit networks and utilities, through to refuse collection and streetlighting, making services “smart” by connecting devices to the Internet is appealing to those managing cities and large towns. In fact, UBS predicts that Asia’s smart city market could reach US$800b in 2025. The UN projects that 66% of the population in Southeast Asia will be living in urban areas by 2050, and many of its cities are looking to smart solutions to address their challenges.
However, in their rush to automate their cities, civic managers need to ensure that they also build in cybersecurity to protect them from threats.
The severity of the threat
The benefits of generating data-based insights from IoT-powered smart cities, as well as the convenience of remote operations, hinge on the convergence of IT and OT (operational technology) for maximum connectivity.
However, IoT devices often run on operating systems that have vulnerabilities that are challenging to patch, or simply no longer…
