Experts express concerns as cyber security threats loom on Smart Cities

Cyber security threats loom large on Smart cities as the country embarks on a journey to create about 100 such cities driven by smart solutions, leveraging on cutting edge technology. Together, these Smart cities aim to house 40 per cent of India’s population and contribute about 75 per cent to India’s GDP (gross domestic period) by 2030. Some of the smart solutions include e-governance and citizen services, smart urban mobility, smart waste management, smart health care, smart energy and water management among others. These smart solutions are powered by combination of heterogeneous enabling technologies such as smart cards, IoT (internet of things) based devices and wearable devices, autonomous systems devices at physical device level, integrated with intelligent mobile apps, cloud computing, open data and advanced analytics powered by new age AI (artificial intelligence) solutions. Even if the use of these technologies reduce the cost of gathering information for structured analysis, they are also fraught with associated cyber risks.