Rapidly Emerging Smart Cities & The Associated Risks

guest · Apr 30, 2018

Rapidly Emerging Smart Cities & The Associated Risks
April 30, 2018
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...erging-smart-cities-and-the-associated-risks/

A smart city can be described as a city that incorporates the capabilities of web connectivity, analytics, mobile solutions, sensors, data collection and other technology. This can include surveillance systems utilized by law enforcement, smart congestion-mitigating traffic systems, LED streetlights equipped with motion sensors, smart grids and smart water systems.
A smart city contains a myriad of objects that receive, collect and transmit data.
Cyberattacks, Including Cyberterrorism
The smarter a city becomes, the more vulnerable to exploits it may become. A whole host of new opportunities for hackers to spy, phish, disrupt and leak is born. Further, the ante is upped when a cyberattack claims a government entity as a victim.

A cyberattack is particularly dangerous when the target is a hospital or other health care facility. Health care facilities are part of smart city networks. Bleeping Computer has written about how medical devices are also vulnerable to attacks and how the FDA has been addressing the issue.
On top of that, smart cities are at risk of ransomware attacks. [...]
Click to expand...

EASTER · Apr 30, 2018

It's especially of notice in the Topic Title statement, Associated Risks

guest · Aug 1, 2018

Google Is Still Planning a ‘Smart City’ in Toronto Despite Major Privacy Concerns
August 1, 2018
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...g-smart-city-toronto-despite-privacy-concerns

The new agreement provides more details than the initial deal, signed last year. It reportedly narrows the scope of Sidewalk’s influence to a small 12-acre site rather than the 800 acres of undeveloped land on the waterfront, and privacy and data issues that were almost entirely overlooked in the first contract are covered in three pages of Digital Governance Framework Principles.

One obvious issue with the principles is how they are framed. They start off with declarations to not break Canadian law then move to a promise to inform the work using “Canadian values,” which are not defined.

Another problem is the weight given to the principles. Data minimization (reducing the amount of data collected to a bare minimum) is mentioned once in passing. Minimizing data collection should be a headline, not tiny subtext.

[...] The tide is turning on surveillance as a social norm. It was wrong go down this road without democratic debate.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 9, 2018

The Sensors That Power Smart Cities Are a Hacker's Dream
August 09, 2018
https://www.wired.com/story/sensor-hubs-smart-cities-vulnerabilities-hacks/

By setting up an array of sensors and integrating their data, a municipality can get more nuanced insight into how to solve interconnected problems.

“It appears to be a huge area of vulnerability, and the stakes are high when we’re talking about putting computers in everything and giving them important jobs like public safety and management of industrial control systems.

The researchers found basic vulnerabilities, like guessable default passwords that would make it easy for an attacker to access a device, along with bugs that could allow an attacker to inject malicious software commands, and others that would allow an attacker to sidestep authentication checks.

Cities will continue to invest in smart technology. Hopefully as they do, they'll appreciate that more data will often mean more risks—and that those vulnerabilities aren't always easy to fix.
Click to expand...

guest · Oct 24, 2018

mood said: ↑

Google Is Still Planning a ‘Smart City’ in Toronto Despite Major Privacy Concerns
August 1, 2018
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...g-smart-city-toronto-despite-privacy-concerns
Click to expand...

Privacy Expert Resigns From Alphabet-Backed Smart City Project Over Surveillance Concerns
October 23, 2018
https://gizmodo.com/privacy-expert-resigns-from-alphabet-backed-smart-city-1829934748

A privacy expert tasked with helping a new smart city development protect the data privacy of residents has resigned over concerns that her guidelines would be largely ignored.

“I imagined us creating a Smart City of Privacy, as opposed to a Smart City of Surveillance,” Ann Cavoukian, the former privacy commissioner of Ontario, wrote in her resignation letter from Google sister company Sidewalk Labs, reports Global News.

Cavoukian told the Global News that her resignation was intended as a “strong statement” on the project’s approach to data privacy. “I felt I had no choice because I had been told by Sidewalk Labs that all of the data collected will be de-identified at source,” she told Global News. But then, at a Thursday meeting, Cavoukian reportedly realized such anonymization protocols could not be guaranteed.

Cavoukian realized third parties could possibly have access to identifiable data gathered through the project. “When I heard that, I said, ‘I’m sorry. I can’t support this. [...]"
Click to expand...

Minimalist · Feb 16, 2019

Managing the Risks Inherent to Smart Cities

Adopting smart city technologies comes with increased risks of technical failures and cyber crime that officials must anticipate and manage, according to a guide released Thursday by the EastWest Institute.
Click to expand...

https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/02/managing-risks-inherent-smart-cities/154936/

guest · Mar 4, 2019

Smart Cities Are Most Vulnerable to Cyber Security Risks
March 2, 2019
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/329394

The trade body FICCI in association with KPMG has suggested a five-point action plan to enable smart cities to make peace with the cybersecurity needs.
Smart Infrastructure
The world is moving from traditional to smart infrastructure with connected homes and devices. “A formal guidance based on well-defined cybersecurity policy and a structured security organization with clearly defined roles and responsibilities will be important for governing the cybersecurity posture and reducing the cyber risks,” the report suggested.

The following infographic based on the FICCI-KPMG report would further elaborate on the concept of cybersecurity in smart cities. [...]
Click to expand...

guest · May 3, 2019

Security lapse exposed a Chinese smart city surveillance system
Thousands of facial recognition scans were matched against Chinese police records
May 3, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/03/china-smart-city-exposed/

Smart cities are designed to make life easier for their residents: better traffic management by clearing routes, making sure the public transport is running on time and having cameras keeping a watchful eye from above.
But what happens when that data leaks? One such database was open for weeks for anyone to look inside.

Security researcher John Wethington found a smart city database accessible from a web browser without a password. He passed details of the database to TechCrunch in an effort to get the data secured.
The database was an Elasticsearch database, storing gigabytes of data — including facial recognition scans on hundreds of people over several months.
We don’t know the customer of this leaky database, but its contents offered a rare insight into how a smart city system works.
Click to expand...

But as these systems develop and become more powerful and ubiquitous, companies might be better placed to first and foremost make sure its massive data banks don’t inadvertently leak.
Click to expand...

Reality · May 3, 2019

This is a blatant privacy nightmare. Anyone who condones this nonsense needs their head seen to.

ZMsiXone · Jul 2, 2019

Smart cities, difficult choices: privacy and security on the grid
June 18, 2019
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/priva...ult-choices-privacy-and-security-on-the-grid/

A bump in the road
As it turns out, planning something like a smart city is incredibly complicated, and things appear to be slipping behind schedule. Worse, nobody seem to be able to tell the residents exactly what’s coming in this brave new world of digital connectedness. Google’s Sidewalk Labs want to try and set a “Global standard” for how user data should be treated, but there’s still no real information available as to how this will work in practice.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 20, 2019

Smart city cybersecurity “woefully underfunded and vulnerable to attack”
Lack of investment in cybersecurity could jeopardise the core goals of smart cities, warns ABI Research
August 20, 2019
https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/ne...lly-underfunded-and-vulnerable-to-attack-4502

ABI finds that the financial; information and communication technologies (ICT); and defence industries will account for 56 per cent of the $135 billion projected total cybersecurity spend related to critical infrastructure in 2024. The remaining 44 per cent of the 2024 spend will be split between the energy, healthcare, public security, transport and water & waste sectors.

This leaves the latter sectors “woefully underfunded and incredibly vulnerable to cyberattacks,” the research warns.
Variety of threats
Dimitrios Pavlakis, Industry Analyst at ABI Research, said: “Smart cities are increasingly under attack by a variety of threats.
“In this increasingly connected technological landscape, every smart city service is as secure as its weakest link,” he added.
Click to expand...

guest · Oct 8, 2019

CIS - Center for Internet Security
Smart Cities Need Smarter Security
Smart cities leverage technology in new and advanced ways – but at what security cost?
October 8, 2019
https://www.cisecurity.org/blog/smart-cities-need-smarter-security/

Do you live in a “smart city”? You may be surprised to learn that your local municipality has adopted smart technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices. Examples of how local municipalities are using these devices include traffic monitoring and local weather monitoring and data collection. In Boston and Baltimore, for example, smart garbage cans communicate their current capacity so municipal systems can devise the most efficient routing for disposal services (Source: Forbes).

So, what makes a city “smart,” besides internet-connected devices? According to Forbes, cities around the world are using technology to improve the lives of their community members.
As the connectedness grows so does the target for hacking. Therefore, all of these systems and data must be protected.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 27, 2021

Ransomware: It's only a matter of time before a smart city falls victim, and we need to take action now
...an insecure 5G IoT connected city could be a prime target for extortion attacks.
August 27, 2021
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ranso...victim-to-an-attack-if-action-isnt-taken-now/

Ransomware attacks are going to get worse - and one could eventually take out the infrastructure of an entire 5G-enabled smart city, a cybersecurity expert has warned.

Cyber criminals deploying ransomware regularly target government services. Not only do public sector IT budgets mean networks are less secure against attacks, but said networks are also used to provide vital services to the community.
Click to expand...

Urban infrastructure, including emergency services, transport, traffic light management, CCTV and more are, increasingly becoming connected to 5G Internet of Things (IoT) services and sensors in order to collect data and provide better, more efficient services.

But while connected cities have the potential to improve urban services, any lack of security in IoT devices could make them a very appealing target for ransomware attacks – and, given the current ransomware climate, it's not a matter of if, but when.

"I look two years out and my prediction is a 5G smart city will be held for ransom. I don't see anything happening right now that tells me that this prediction is not going to come true," Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions and former CIO at The White House said in an interview with ZDNet Security Update.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Rapidly Emerging Smart Cities & The Associated Risks

guest Guest

EASTER Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

Reality Registered Member

ZMsiXone Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Rapidly Emerging Smart Cities & The Associated Risks

guest Guest

EASTER Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

Reality Registered Member

ZMsiXone Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Useful Searches