Following the recent publication of a report on ‘Smart City Cybersecurity’, produced by technology market data analysis firm ABI Research, there have been a series of supporting news articles. Many just covering the basics of the report but a few go on to push the arguments. Here are a few of the more informative.
The recent cyber attack in Texas where 22 cities were impacted culminated in millions being demanded in payment as part of a massive Ransomeware attack. – Two Texas towns have publicly commented on the attack, verifying that they were breached. The city of Borger issued a statement notifying citizens that their ability to process all payments is offline indefinitely, and that birth and death certificates cannot be issued at this time. The city of Keene also issued a statement indicating that they are not able to process payments or access the accounts of utility customers.
Perhaps Governments and Cities need to follow in the example of the US DoD. The article DOD Will Require Vendor Cybersecurity Certifications By This Time Next Year highlights the requirements:
The department has been kicking around the idea of creating a certification standard for defense industrial base companies to ensure vendors’ cybersecurity posture was adequate to handle controlled and classified information. That became an official effort in March, and Wednesday the department released the first draft Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, or CMMC, outline for public comment.
If Governments required Smart Cities to comply with Cyber Security Maturity Model Certification and the Smart Cities demanded their vendors and service providers do the same then that might create a better cyber security solution.
| Further Reading |
| Smart City Cyber Maturity and Smart City Security Controls |
Smart City Cyber Security 