“Your city has been hacked” – this is the news everybody fears…
If measuring it as a country, cybercrime would be the world’s third-largest economy after the U.S. and China. According to a report by US-based firm Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime is predicted to inflict damages for 6 trillion US dollars globally in 2021. Growing by 15% per year, expected damages will reach 10.5 trillion US dollars by 2025 including stolen money, theft of personal and financial data, theft of intellectual property, lost productivity, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of compromised data and systems, and reputational harm for the hacked organization.
A cyberattack could potentially disrupt essential public services, expose personal and financial data, and disable the economy of a city. Not a reassuring perspective for cities which are increasingly relying on interconnected networks and sensor-based infrastructures to operate and deliver any application that people and businesses need, from energy distribution to mobility systems, from street lighting to municipal waste collection, and more.
Are cities prepared to face such a threat? An online survey we carried out in October 2021 targeting city officers, utility managers and ICT professionals, found that two-thirds (67 per cent) felt their city was “somewhat vulnerable” to cyberattacks and only four per cent claimed to be “100 per cent cybersecure”. The majority’s (42 per cent) main concern in the case of an attack was around financial data violation, followed by business continuity (40 per cent) and personal data privacy (18 per cent).
How can cities mitigate cybersecurity risks and build a secure foundation for their IoT infrastructure? How can we manage cybersecurity as a lifelong journey? Don’t miss our digital event ‘What about Cybersecurity in Smart IoT Cities?‘ on Thursday November 18th, 2021: at Smart City Expo World Congress, our Chief Innovation Officer Nicola Crespi and our Cybersecurity Architect Dario Campovecchi will discuss Paradox Engineering’s security by design approach and introduce some innovative services we will launch in 2022.
Free registration is required, contact us to submit questions in advance!