Kitchin, Rob and Dodge, Martin (2017) The (in)security of smart cities: vulnerabilities, risks, mitigation and prevention: The Programmable City Working Paper 24. Working Paper. The Programmable City Working Paper.

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Abstract

In this paper we examine the current state of play with regards to the security of smart city initiatives. Smart city technologies are promoted as an effective way to counter and manage uncertainty and urban risks through the effective and efficient delivery of services, yet paradoxically they create new vulnerabilities and threats, including making city infrastructure and services insecure, brittle, and open to extended forms of criminal activity. This paradox has largely been ignored or underestimated by commercial and governmental interests or tackled through a technically-mediated mitigation approach. We identify five forms of vulnerabilities with respect to smart city technologies, detail the present extent of cyberattacks on networked infrastructure and services, and present a number of illustrative examples. We then adopt a normative approach to explore existing mitigation strategies, suggesting a wider set of systemic interventions (including security-by-design, remedial security patching and replacement, formation of core security and computer emergency response teams, a change in procurement procedures, and continuing professional development). We discuss how this approach might be enacted and enforced through market-led and regulation/management measures, and examine a more radical preventative approach to security.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information:	Published as an open access pre-print on SocArXiv: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/f6z63. The research for this paper was funded by an ERC Advanced Investigator award (ERC-2012-AdG 323636-SOFTCITY) and by the Data Forum of the Department of the Taoiseach, Ireland, for a study entitled: ‘Getting Smarter about Smart Cities: Improving Data Privacy and Data Security’. Published under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.
Keywords:	crime; cyberattacks; mitigation; risk; security; smart cities; urban resilience;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > National Institute for Regional and Spatial analysis, NIRSA
Item ID:	9232
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/F6Z63
Depositing User:	Prof. Rob Kitchin
Date Deposited:	07 Feb 2018 16:49
Publisher:	The Programmable City Working Paper
Funders:	European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award, Data Forum, Department of the Taoiseach
URI:	http://progcity.maynoothuniversity.ie/
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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