A recent article from IOT World highlights that real world events can trigger cyber attacks either as protest or retaliation.
The article describes:
- In 2014, the city of Ferguson, Mo. was hit with a cyberattack in apparent retaliation for the police shooting of the unarmed teen Michael Brown.
- Fort Lauderdale – A wake-up call arrived on “Cyber Monday,” December 1, 2014 in the form of a massive DDoS attack from the Anonymous hacking collective targeting the city’s website and that of its police. The Anonymous group released a video of a speaker donning a Guy Fawkes mask, which had become emblematic for the hacking collective, insisting Fort Lauderdale abandon three controversial ordinances within 24 hours related to homelessness and panhandling.
These examples highlight not only the need for an effective Smart City cyber strategy but also the use of threat intelligence and integration of proactive cyber security capabilities, such as Situational Awareness, with City Governance and Communications. If events happening in a city or controversial news is released to the public that may attract unwanted attention cyber security services may need to proactively consider the impact.
This interesting quote from the article shows just how many attacks a large city now faces each year:
Michael Lee Sherwood, the director of information technology for the city of Las Vegas, which has launched one of the most ambitious smart city programs in the country. “Guess how many attacks you think the city of Las Vegas gets in a year,” Sherwood said at the CIO Visions Leadership Summit conference in Las Vegas. “Half a billion. Right now we’re being attacked. And when we have a big event in Las Vegas, they spike up.”
| Further Consideration |
| Development of Smart City Cyber Strategy and Threat Model |
Smart City Cyber Security 