Exactly one year has passed since the launch of the activities of the "Securing Smart Cities" alliance, the global non-profit initiative, which aims to raise awareness and solve existing and future digital security problems faced by "smart cities".
Since then, the community supporting the initiative has tripled, now numbering over 30 cybersecurity experts from around the world. In addition, the number of organizations supporting the alliance has increased from four to fifteen.
Over the past year, the proponents of the “Securing Smart Cities” initiative and its partners have been successful in raising awareness of potential cybersecurity issues in “smart cities”. The initiative has published several studies that can help city authorities consider how to adopt “smart” technologies and how to organize a “Smart City Security Department”. Many practical research assessments have also been conducted and their findings have been published. All of the above cover important security issues for “smart” cities, problems related to surveillance systems, as well as cities’ communication networks and their availability to attackers.
In parallel, representatives of the “Securing Smart Cities” initiative have participated in a number of events. Among other things, a representative of the initiative informed the US government about the state of security of “smart cities”. Also, a partner of the initiative helped the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security to conduct two studies on the potential cybersecurity issues that mass transit networks of “smart cities” may face.
“One thing we learned this year is that there is a significant need to prioritize research around smart city security. TheSecuring Smart Citiesis working hard to advance research in this area, and there is still much to be done. Overall, we had a successful first year. Our research and work is already being used by leaders and decision-makers around the world to plan and develop their strategies. We truly look forward to achieving even more in the coming year,” said Mohammad Amin Hasbini, Member of the Board of Directors of the Securing Smart Cities initiative and Security Specialist at Kaspersky Lab.
In the future, the “Securing Smart Cities” initiative will continue its efforts to raise awareness around security issues related to “smart cities”, as well as share its experience with city authorities, publishing security guides and research dedicated to various areas related to the security of the cities of the future.
Today, there is a huge need for greater awareness on the issue of digital security of cities. Cities are becoming increasingly “smarter” and are constantly integrating new technologies into their infrastructure, but they often ignore the importance of digital security. The “Securing Smart Cities” initiative plays an essential role in educating key stakeholders (e.g. governments, infrastructure and service providers, professionals, etc.) about current problems in the field of digital security and potential solutions for “smart cities”.
“In its first year of operation, the Securing Smart Cities collaborative initiative has made significant progress. Before we started, the issue was rarely discussed, but now many more people are aware of the issues surrounding digital security in smart cities and have begun to address the issues we have raised. While we feel we are just getting started and there is a lot of work ahead of us, the results of the first year have been amazing – and this is a great motivation to continue working hard to help cities around the world be safer and protect their citizens in the best possible way,” commented Cesar Cerrudo, member of the Securing Smart Cities Board of Directors and CTO of IOActive.
