Protecting Cities Against Cyber Attacks

Today’s smart cities depend on cloud technology for efficiency, cost savings and most importantly, data security. For residents and visitors, these cities also leverage the cloud to improve everything from energy distribution, traffic flow, and trash collection.  It improves infrastructure and enables citizens to connect with critical services no matter where they are, and what devices they use.  Paying property taxes, renewing parking passes or even booking your next yoga class can all be done with the click of a button online.  While these cities continue to become more efficient, connected and convenient, they also become more vulnerable to cyber threats.

Why is your city such a target? Read below to learn why.

SMART CITIES GENERATE A TON OF SENSITIVE DATA

We know that cities collect huge amounts of data about us. Whether it’s by the public security cameras at the train station, or simply the payment page on your city’s website, your data is being collected every second of every day.  We are tracked even more now with social media.  Municipal IT teams take the utmost care in ensuring that data is safe using all sorts of technology like Cyber Monitoring and Backup solutions. The many IoT deployments involved in smart cities collect a vast amount of data. Unfortunately, hackers are always looking for new ways to break into IT networks in order to encrypt the data, demand ransom, or sell that valuable data on the dark web. It's the hacker's jackpot!

CHAOS IS A MONEYMAKER FOR HACKERS

Halting critical city services is something that works well for hackers demanding ransom. They’ve been known to shut down power, water and traffic operations. In 2020, a hacker tried to poison citizens in Florida by tampering with the water treatment plant IT systems.  This is just one of the reasons that smart cities need to better protect themselves to guard against these types of hacks.

SHADOW IT PUTS MUNICIPAL DATA AT RISK

Budgetary and technology limitations often cause cities to operate a large amount of disparate IT systems.  Shadow IT is useful in patching together legacy systems and newer technologies to make way for innovation and infrastructure growth.  However, it can cause vulnerabilities such as improperly deployed backups, compliance issues, and the inability to adapt these applications to the latest threats. These opportunities are very visible to hackers as they are well trained to spot an opportunity to get into the network undetected, and municipalities are well known for shadow IT vulnerabilities.

THE MORE ENDPOINTS, THE MORE VULNERABILITIES

At the heart of every smart city is a data lake and a series of IoT devices that all work together to collect and analyze that data. Hackers use these endpoints to make their way into the network to move towards more sensitive data or mission-critical infrastructure. This is why it’s so important to monitor for threats at every possible entry point – or endpoint, that a hacker may have their eye on.

PROTECT CITY DATA

• Backup and Disaster Recovery – backing up data ensures that your data is safely stored in an offsite cloud storage repository.  Hackers can’t get a ransom payment from municipalities that already have a copy of that encrypted data stored elsewhere. Additionally, a well-designed and tested disaster recovery solution enables quick recovery, and minimize downtime, which in turn maintains the trust of shareholders and citizens alike.
• Managed Detection and Response with Covalence, the comprehensive managed detection and response platform that monitors all endpoints, regardless of their location. The security alerts are simplified so that any IT team, regardless of size and expertise, can manage and diffuse any incoming threats.
• Hosted Anti Spam - Protect employees from malicious email links and phishing scams. A hosted anti-spam solution offers the best protection against this type of threat. The pricing is relatively low for protection this valuable.

At Reis Informatica, we own and operate a private cloud system from a fortified data centre. This results in reliable and fault-tolerant power and data line backups for your organization.

We also use a wide range of public cloud systems that enable you to access vast computing power when you need it. Move your in-house email to the cloud with Office365, or get a Windows cloud application for your Mac. Everything is possible.

Contact us to book an assessment, review of your current disaster recovery plan, or ask questions about how to optimize your data protection strategy.

Source: HostedBizz, https://hostedbizz.com/blog/protecting-cities-against-cyber-threats/, 2021