IDG Contributor Network: How smart cities can protect against IoT security threats

Smart cities, which were once confined to the realms of science fiction books, are rapidly becoming a reality all around the globe. Unfortunately, like all revolutionizing innovations, smart cities are developing their own unique challenges alongside of their perks. So what are industry insiders and tomorrow’s city planners doing to face these challenges?

The security issues facing smart cities are unlike anything ever before seen, and solutions to these problems haven’t yet sprung up en masse, meaning many different interest groups have proposed their own respective plans. By combing through some of today’s proposed solutions, we can identify some of the leading trends that will come to dominate the future of smart city security.

Preempting a security nightmare

It’s no secret among smart cities’ proponents that they generate a slew of security nightmares that are unmatched by any other technological development. Such large, interconnected networks of gadgets and people are bound to generate issues ranging from social surveillance to pollution to even physical security threats. Before they try to tackle the security challenges of smart cities, experts would then be well-served to read up on them and learn what they should expect in the coming decades.

Being more interconnected isn’t necessarily a good thing all the time; the infrastructure systems of smart cities, which connect disparate parts of cities and their inhabitants to one another, are especially vulnerable. For instance, security research Cesar Cerrudo has already highlighted how vulnerable the traffic systems of tomorrow’s smart cities will be.