Are smart cities as safe as we think they are? Security experts say not yet

L33tdawg: You might also be interested in this smart cities / smart nation panel discussion from HITB GSEC last year.

While many people presume burgeoning smart cities to be secure and safe for use by citizens, a new study by security professional association ISACA reveals the potential for substantial threats.

The association surveyed approximately 2,000 security and risk professionals focused on smart cities, including their management strategies, risk management measures, and future technology initiatives. This research shows that malware and ransomware lead the top of concerns in the sector, as well as more frequent and destructive denial of service attacks. Additionally, when asked to name the most likely executors of these attacks, smart cities experts named nation-states and hacktivists.

Global survey respondents flagged several critical infrastructure areas as potential targets including transportation systems, environmental systems and local and regional government, with the energy sector named by 71 percent as most susceptible to attacks, followed closely by communications at 70 percent, and financial services at 64 percent. Only 15 percent of respondents consider cities to be most equipped to confront and neutralize smart infrastructure cyberattacks; more than half of respondents believe the national government would be better suited to confront these potential threats.