As cities become smarter, more connected and more livable, they are becoming more vulnerable to hackers who could break into sensors used to collect data about public utilities, traffic, garbage collecting, road conditions and much more.
The more connected a city is, the more vulnerable it is to cyberattacks, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Using ransomware, hackers can hold cities hostage by crippling critical infrastructure for months at a time, as was the case in Baltimore and Atlanta.
“The reality of the situation and the risk we have to manage is that we’re introducing new opportunities for malicious hackers to exploit devices that have previously required physical access. We’re lowering the barriers to entry,” said Dave Weinstein, former chief technology officer of the state of New Jersey and now chief security officer at the security firm Claroty Ltd.
When essential infrastructure such as power grids and emergency alerts are hacked, a dream smart city could quickly become a nightmare.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 67: Jamarlin Martin
Jamarlin goes solo to discuss the NFL’s entertainment and “social justice” deal with Jay-Z. We look back at the Barclays gentrification issue in the documentary “A Genius Leaves The Hood: The Unauthorized Story of Jay-Z.”
The dark side of smart cities keeps researchers at IBM awake at night. Researchers from IBM Security and data security firm Threatcare found out in 2018 that many sensors in smart cities are vulnerable to simple attacks.
“It appears to be a huge area of vulnerability, and the stakes are high when we’re talking about putting computers in everything and giving them important jobs like public safety and management of industrial control systems,” Daniel Crowley of IBM X-Force Red told Wired.
