Dima Tokar, Jason Hart: Network Isolation Key in Cyber Defense for Smart Cities

Two information technology security executives believe that computer networks used to create and run smart cities are vulnerable to hacking, Cisco’s The Network reported Wednesday.

Jason Deign writes that smart cities’ susceptibility to security threats can be associated with the lack of a single authority to monitor and implement cybersecurity standards and the use of traffic lights, water pumps and other smart city devices that are not capable to defend against cyber attacks.

Experts suggest the use of firewall technologies and dedicated network systems to safeguard smart cities from potential hacking, Deign reports.

“[Internet of Things] solutions in a smart city environment should take advantage of proper network isolation wherever possible to ensure that breaches in one system do not directly lead to a breach in another system,” said Dima Tokar, co-founder and chief technology officer of MachNation.

Jason Hart, vice president of cloud solutions at Gemalto, told The Network that application and data owners should identify insiders that have access to networked systems and critical information.

“As a data owner I would want data encrypted with key management,” Hart said.

“As an application owner, in the event the application is compromised I want to give the data owner the ability to manage things properly.”