A new report from Navigant Research examines the cybersecurity landscape for intelligent buildings and the implications of increased Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.
While smart buildings are centered around the ideas of connectivity and interactivity, new interfaces are dramatically increasing access points, providing gateways to sensitive data, and creating new vulnerabilities for building automation systems. Further, the proliferation of IoT-enabled devices and third-party entities has widened the surface area for attack, compounding the security issue by making threat detection less straightforward and more difficult to remedy.
“Cybersecurity issues are expected to grow in tandem with the digital transformation of real estate through intelligent building technologies,” says Casey Talon, research director with Navigant Research. “The information/operational technology (IT/OT) convergence is a necessity for successful deployment and the use of intelligent building solutions, but in many customer organizations, these business units act in isolation. This creates gaps in human capital skill sets, resulting in infrastructure and processes that can be vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches.”
Navigant Research recommends intelligent building stakeholders take a proactive approach to cybersecurity threats by determining vulnerabilities and attack vectors and educating the enterprise. Stakeholders should take a layered approach to cybersecurity, in addition to building a cyber threat alliance and continuing to strengthen their line of defense.
The report, Cybersecurity Will Define Market Leaders in the Intelligent Buildings Market, examines the cybersecurity landscape for intelligent buildings and the implications of increased IoT connectivity. It analyzes several best practices and strategies that managers and vendors are taking to secure intelligent building systems. The report also provides a list of recommendations for stakeholders to integrate into their cybersecurity frameworks as they continue to build resilience against threat vectors.
