By B.N. Frank/Activist Post

If your community isn’t officially “smart” yet, it may be soon.  In fact, earlier this year, a report named 10 U.S. cities that are ready to become “smart”.  Fortunately for them and all others thinking about taking the plunge, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published a new guide of warnings worth considering.

Dive Brief:

  • The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday published a cybersecurity best practices guide for smart cities, warning that municipalities should carefully evaluate and address cybersecurity risks associated with connected public services and infrastructure.
  • Communities should integrate cybersecurity strategy and risk management in their smart city technology plans and proactively manage supply chain risk to ensure all hardware and software are secure, the guide states.
  • To ensure that vital public services and infrastructure continue functioning if there’s a cybersecurity event, operational resilience is essential, according to the report. “The organizations responsible for implementing smart city technology should develop, assess, and maintain contingencies for manual operations of all critical infrastructure functions and train staff accordingly,” it says.

Dive Insight:

Smart cities are vulnerable to cybersecurity threats because they often collect, transmit and store large amounts of “sensitive information from governments, businesses, and private citizens,” the report says. The AI-powered software at the heart of many smart city solutions is also susceptible to attack, the report says.

“The intrinsic value of the large data sets and potential vulnerabilities in digital systems means there is a risk of exploitation for espionage and for financial or political gain by malicious threat actors, including nation-states, cybercriminals, hacktivists, insider threats, and terrorists,” the report says.

The report recommends several strategies to employ in smart city security planning and design:

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