Spooks warn of smart-city cyber vulnerability.

Spooks warn of smart-city cyber vulnerability.

By Iain Fraser - Geopolitical Journalist

www.GeopoliticalMatters.com

Cyber Spooks National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have warned that Smart cities are a target for hackers and especially worrying "state actor" hackers such as Russia and China causing concern for responsible councils.

The NCSC - an arm of GCHQ - has published guidance for local authorities on how to secure what they call "connected places". It says that while this advanced technology helps improve urban services it renders it liable to hackers to either disrupt or gather intelligence.

The smart-city concept is well intentioned and can reap a host of benefits in terms of checking traffic congestion and implementing an effective traffic plan.

But this growing dependency on technology also brings risks. The NCSC is warning of possible "destructive impacts" if systems were switched off which, in some cases, could even "endanger" residents. Another concern is that the large volumes of data about people that are collected could erode privacy by allowing citizens to be tracked even more, or could be stolen by criminals or hostile states.