One of Vancouver's city buses offering free Wi-Fi Privacy & Security Public Sector Infosec pros worry about cyber security funding for smart cities Howard Solomon @HowardITWC Published: October 20th, 2016As the global economy has slowed an increasing number of local governments have launched smart city initiatives, hoping not only to modernize their infrastructure but also to attract new business.But linking municipal services such as traffic lights, video cameras and the like also comes with cyber security risks. A Trustwave survey this summer of 203 infosec pros working at U.S. state and local governments shows it’s on their minds.Twenty-seven per cent said publicly-run Wi-Fi networks are the most at risk, 18.6 per cent said the smart grid itself, 12.7 per cent said the traffic system and — not surprisingly since news reports show video cameras are a leading source of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks — 11,3 per cent surveillance cameras. Related Articles The next wave of disruption: super-smart cities 2020The Internet of Things (IoT) drove Toronto to win the 2014 Intelligent Community Forum’s (ICF) top prize. Why Toronto? This is... November 26th, 2015 Stephen Ibaraki @sibaraki Smart cities push public engagement over public policy: IBM strategistWhat can we as IT leaders learn from the “smart cities” movement – as civic governments transform themselves to meet... September 23rd, 2015 Jim Love @CIOJimLove Respondents were almost evenly split — 55 to 45 per cent — on whether cities devote adequate cyber security resources for smart city initiatives. Just under one-third blamed lack of sufficient budget, while the same number pointed at “politics” interfering with decision-making. Twenty-three per cent said the cyber risks aren’t well understood.Of those jurisdictions that have smart city projects, just over 20 per cent have public Wi-Fi systems, almost 18 per cent have surveillance cameras, 11.6 per cent have so-called smart lighting,11.3 per cent offer apps for city services, 10 per cent have transportation projects and 9.1 per cent have open data initiatives and/or water treatment projects.“Municipalities are dazzled by the promises of the Industrial Internet of Things, which can bring cost savings and improved efficiency,”Rekha Shenoy, vice-president and general manager of industrial cyber security at Tripwire’s parent company, Belden. “However, the dazzle will wear off quickly if smart city initiatives can’t keep up with new threats, regulatory requirements and hidden costs. In order to succeed, smart cities must actively protect their critical infrastructure.”Would you recommend this article?00 Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article! We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication. Click this link to send me a note →Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada Related Download Sponsor: CanadianCIO Cybersecurity Conversations with your Board – A Survival Guide A SURVIVAL GUIDE BY CLAUDIO SILVESTRI, VICE-PRESIDENT AND CIO, NAV CANADA Download Now Privacy & Security, Public Sector security strategies, smart cities