FICCI KPMG Report suggests five-point action plan to enable smart cities to keep pace with the cyber security needs

NEW DELHI, 22 February 2019: A FICCI-KPMG Smart City Knowledge Report on ‘Cybersecurity in Smart Cities’, has suggested a five-point action plan to enable smart cities to keep pace with the cybersecurity needs and build a cyber-resilient and trusted environment across the entire value chain,

The report was released here today at the 3^rd Smart Cities Summit 2019 – Urban Innovation & Future Cities Meet organized by FICCI.

The key measures suggested by the report are:

Establishing a formal cybersecurity framework: A formal guidance based on a well-defined cybersecurity policy and a structured security organisation with clearly defined roles and responsibilities will be important for governing the cybersecurity posture and reducing the cyber risks.

Security must be built-in from the ground up: Stakeholders and users in smart cities ecosystem will expect security to be built into the system; technology architects should follow an ‘always-on’ principle that provides high levels of control with appropriate fail-safes.

Security should be deployed in integrated form across value chain: Smart cities should carefully evaluate their third party suppliers, identify qualified partners, and invest in integrating security, privacy and trust across the ecosystem.

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Establish cyber resilient and trusted environment: Resilience and trust will be established through validation of cyber practices, ensuring compliance and consistent engagement with smart city stakeholders and citizens. This will enhance cyber confidence of citizens and stakeholders on smart city functioning.

Engage across industry, knowledge bodies and regulatory groups to standardise security measures: Collaboration will reduce ambiguity and accelerate the ability to implement secure products and services within sustainable smart cities ecosystem.

Mr Shankar Aggarwal, Former Secretary, Urban Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, while addressing the summit, said that there was a need for establishing a mechanism, both at the government and private sector, to take decisions in time pertaining to the development of smart cities.

In order to develop smart cities, it was imperative that the latest technology should be used not only in the development of infrastructure but also in social sectors like healthcare, education and culture, he added.

Highlighting the role of start-ups in developing smart cities, Mr Aggarwal said that start-ups could grow only if an eco-system is created along with a liberal education system for startups to grow.

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Mr Ajay Pandey, Chair-FICCI Urban Infra & Smart Cities Committee, FICCI & Managing Director & CEO, Gift City, said that India is at the brink of next stage transformation and urban transformation is growing at a faster pace. He stressed upon the need to adopt strategies to merge infrastructure with the cultural values of the cities under the smart city development.

Highlighting the value of data in smart city context, Mr Elias George, Chairman – Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare, KPMG in India, said that India needs to be cognizant of the challenges that smart cities across the world have faced in terms of the deluge of cyber-attacks affecting the availability of smart city infrastructure, continuity of services and misuse of personal data.

Earlier setting the context for the conference, Mr NSN Murty, Partner – Smart Cities, PwC India said that the forums like this are necessary to bring all the key stakleholders including the city officials, System Integrators and solution providers under one roof to have a common understanding of challenges and opportunities in the cities. Mr Sander van Stiphout, Director International, Johan Cruijff Arena & Program Manager, Amsterdam Innovation Arena also shared his perspective on developing smart cities with innovative ideas and security mechanism keeping citizens at the core of any such initiative.

The summit was well attended by over 300 participants from the industry, government and academia.

Click Here to View Full Report

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