There are three technological certainties in the next twelve to twenty-four months that your business must prepare for; fifth-generation wireless (5G) is coming, it will significantly change the entire cyber landscape, it will impact your network security. This blog is the third in a four-part series that examines the impending 5G transformation and how to secure your business now for the new cyber landscape.
Part Three: Fifth Generation Wireless (5G) and Smart City Security
“Cities are challenged to develop economically, and environmentally sustainable municipal entities anchored on the principle of competitiveness, economic progress and security, social cohesion and innovation. With the integration of technology across various functions, Smart Cities can overcome these challenges and deliver on the goals of economic development, sustainability, innovation, and city engagement, all while utilizing an ecosystem of partners to fundamentally change and improve the quality of life for residents.” – Anh Phan and Shoaib Tahir Qureshi, Tampere University
Smart society, the amalgamation of smart cities, smart homes, and smart industry, is becoming increasingly more connected and intelligent. The intelligent ecosystem, with the Internet of Things (IoT), smart devices, and the data they generate at the epicentre, requires the speed and breadth of 5G to be fully realized. Once smart society is powered by Fifth Generation Wireless (5G) networks, it has the potential to be better, safer, and more efficient. The utopian urban vision created by innovators and propagated by big technology is driving us to dream of better living through a web of data.
In a truly connected, smart city, a woman could drive to the outskirts of town and get on to a high-speed commuter train. Upon her departure, the electric car that’s self-driven her there – taking an optimal route thereby avoiding congestion and accidents while minimizing drive time and emissions, drives itself off to park and recharge. Alternatively, a man has a heart attack while crossing a busy street. Emergency services are notified in real-time, via cameras along the road, and sends a drone equipped with a defibrillator to arrive and give life-saving instructions critical moments before an ambulance can navigate the streets and get there. While maintenance robots that fly look down on the scene from atop apartment buildings, able to swoop down and autonomously repair or clean the road, area, or building whenever necessary.
The smart city movement is based on 5G networks and the insertion of computerized sensors into the urban fabric. With time, everything from bike racks to streetlamps to CCTV and traffic lights, as well as intuitive home appliances such as connected fridges and remote-controlled heating systems, will become part of the IoT, if it isn’t already. IDC predicts that global IoT spending will reach $1.2 trillion in 2022, attaining a CAGR of 13.6 percent over the 2017-2022 forecast period. According to the United Nations, by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. This statistic leads many, from engineers to politicians – to focus on advancing smart city initiatives. In fact, some estimates state that by 2020, the potential market for smart cities could be over one trillion dollars. And, while it seems inevitable that we’re moving towards smart society, it may not be as utopian as we hoped when we get there.
Without proper security measures, smart cities could be a dystopian reality.
“We can be sure that accidents will happen – driverless cars will crash; bugs will take down whole transport subsystems or the electricity grid; drones could hit passenger aircraft.” – The Guardian, London
Smart cities have many cybersecurity worries with more endpoints, attack surfaces, and cyber threats that can directly impact daily life, and citizen safety and well-being. Some smart city cyber threat vectors to consider include:
· Smart Traffic Control Vulnerabilities: Traffic control devices are often lacking encrypting communications, allowing threat actors to change traffic lights. Think of the possible accidents, congestion, and chaos that could ensue if hackers compromised traffic lights, city-wide, changing them at will.
· Controlling the Smart Grid: There is the possibility to blackout whole city blocks, or entire areas, by manipulating smart meters and exploiting their vulnerabilities.
· Manipulation of Intelligent Public Transportation: Cyber attacks against public transportation could display incorrect information on public transportation systems, perhaps influencing people’s behaviour, causing delays, or overcrowding. It could also mean controlling routes or veering from them or overriding communications systems.
· Traffic and Surveillance Cameras can be used to Track, Disable, or Blind: Cameras are the eyes of the city. However, malicious hackers could track individuals, easily controlling the cameras and locating, or remotely following, individuals. They could also disable the cameras, effectively blinding the city and incapacitating an integral part of its intelligence.
· Confusing Location-Based Services: GPS spoofing and other cyber attacks are a possibility. Systems and services relying on real-time location information could make crucial decisions based on incorrect location information.
· City Management Systems Held Hostage: In recent years, there’s been an increase of ransomware attacks and data breaches against city governments and management systems. With more connected devices and more reliance on data by cities, these occurrences will only increase with harsher consequences.
· Tricking Smart Sensors: Smart sensors can be hacked into, instructing them to send fake data to systems and thusly manipulating decision-making. Threat actors could guide sensors to fake natural disasters, like earthquakes or floods, or infrastructure issues like bridge breakage or tunnel collapse. These false reports could raise alarms, cause widespread panic, or distract from real issues.
· Gaining Insight from Public Data: Data about mass public behaviours can assist threat attackers in determining optimal timing and impact for physical attacks. Knowing who travels through specific locations at specific times informs the scheduling of attacks, assists with creating attack triggers, and with the coordination of attacks. Much knowledge can be gleaned from knowing the patterns of a city’s behaviours.
This list is only a start – smart street lighting can be turned off, mobile apps that inform citizens hacked, cloud and SAAS solutions rendered inoperable, and social media can be used as an amplification platform for attacks. Without proper cybersecurity testing, adequate security measures being put in place, and thorough and practiced cyber incident response planning, this list becomes a reality. We must ensure that the smart cities we call home are safe.
“What is the city but the people?” – Shakespeare’s Coriolanus
Cybersecurity is about protecting people. That will become increasingly more important as the lines between the physical and the digital world further blur. The 5G standard promises a multitude of benefits, but it will also come with risks. Infinitely more connected devices and the growth and development of intelligent ecosystems will mean many more 5G cybersecurity threats and a multifaceted cyber attack surface. At ISA, we know cybersecurity. Our security specialists can help you assess, plan, and remediate now so that you’re ready for the 5G transformation.
transformation.