ITS International – Joining the dots: four ways to help cities make the connection
As more transportation infrastructure assets are connected to the network, the attack surface grows, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities are exposed. Transportation systems are increasingly becoming alluring targets for cybercriminals, who can sabotage or even commandeer both the IT systems and the operational technology controlling our transportation systems. To safeguard their systems, transportation leaders must build security into their networks from end to end – spanning from the data centre to the edge of the network and even to in-vehicle systems. Transportation officials should leverage existing cybersecurity frameworks rather than creating policies and procedures from scratch. In the UK, the Department for Transport’s principles of cybersecurity for connected and automated vehicles and its guidance for rail cybersecurity are good places to begin, not to mention working with the ecosystem of successful cybersecurity providers. Cities should also make cybersecurity investment a high priority in both capital planning as well as operational planning, much the way safety is today. They should also develop an integrated security architecture to cover the gaps that point solutions cannot address and should consider starting a security operations centre (SOC) if they have not done so already.