Views: 1 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2024-12-12 Origin: Site
Modern public lighting combines street lamps and sensors, and adopts technology for connecting services. Therefore, in the context of cost reduction, smart cities focus on improving operational efficiency while enhancing user experience.
Behind the modernization of urban environmental practices lies the same problem as other elements of smart cities: the higher the degree of urban connectivity, the greater the likelihood of being subjected to cyber attacks. What are the related network risks? What kind of network security strategies should be adopted to address these new challenges? This article will answer these questions.
The increasingly interconnected public lighting
The need to ensure network security for managing energy, water, and urban transportation infrastructure in interconnected cities seems evident. However, public lighting must also be monitored, supervised, and protected, as every device connected to the city can return data.Streetlights, sensors, and other devices are becoming part of the Internet of Things (IoT), powering this interconnected city. The direct consequence is that the public lighting network is an important energy consumer in the city. In this era of energy conservation, according to a 2021 report, public lighting in France consumes no less than 2 billion euros in local government budgets. The goal of a smart city is to reduce operating costs while also improving the safety of residents. The key issue is the continuity of local government services.
From a broader perspective of public lighting, replacing existing lighting can not only solve cybersecurity issues, but also address ecological and economic concerns.When lighting fixtures and lighting control points are networked in a centralized architecture, the lighting system becomes programmable and capable of generating data, "explained an article on a professional French website. These data can be applied to strategies such as optimizing space usage, tracking inventory, and providing location-based services. These strategies, in turn, can have a tangible impact on reducing costs, improving process efficiency, brand strategy, and resident satisfaction.When lighting fixtures are equipped with sensors, public lighting becomes "smart": it can detect the presence or absence of people, adjust brightness levels, and check equipment to report faults or arrange early maintenance operations.
However, this kind of hyperconnectivity expands the attack surface of smart cities. Besides sensitivity, its entire infrastructure may become fragile.
Public lighting: vulnerable to network attacks
The proliferation of such networked devices in urban environments has brought certain limitations and network threats. This complexity is caused by the wide variety of devices used as sensors (temperature, humidity, motion), GPS beacons, sensors and actuators installed on fixed or moving parts.This complexity is further exacerbated by the remote accessibility of these devices, which are primarily used for maintenance and involve various participants (owners, representatives, and subcontractors) with different network security skills and interests.
For public lighting, the attack surface is equivalent to the entire installed network: centralized architecture is vulnerable to attacks, and the data passing through it is also vulnerable. Although data related to lighting activity or intensity may not seem of much interest to cybercriminals, data related to access is more attractive.Cybercriminals first gain access to networked objects and can then move horizontally to other internal networks in smart cities. In this IT environment, traditional threats such as spyware, computer worms, and ransomware pose real risks to controlling and monitoring the environment.Network attacks (such as sniffing attacks) aim to obtain access information by intercepting data streams between lighting fixtures, lighting control points, and remote management systems. Finally, the large number of network points also makes cybercriminals particularly attractive, as they can launch DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. In this regard, it can be compared with intelligent surveillance cameras in urban environments.
In addition to immediate service interruption issues, the cost of repairing affected systems and preventing future attacks can be very high.
What is the correct network security concept for public lighting?
By adopting end-to-end network security concepts, these urban environments can implement risk mitigation strategies. This requires rebuilding the architecture of interconnected cities, taking into account various levels of industrial networks, all the way to intelligent public lighting on the streets. Therefore, the concept of defense in depth is the foundation of urban network security: it is a method aimed at protecting each subsystem, rather than just focusing on perimeter security.
This involves prioritizing the implementation of network segmentation, traffic control, communication channel encryption, and multi factor authentication for accessing critical systems. In addition, continuous software updates for smart devices can prevent security vulnerabilities and effectively respond to evolving network threats - although this is often easier said than done. Regular backup of collected data and implementation of strong risk management policies (including robust procedures for handling security incidents) and other preventive measures are also part of this philosophy. The goal is to create a secure environment where information can flow freely. This is a key requirement for operating intelligent services: the ability to distribute confidential, verified, complete, and reliable information within the network.
Therefore, smart cities face a dual challenge in terms of public lighting and urban environment: leveraging the advantages of new technologies while protecting their infrastructure from cyber attacks. Adopting a coherent and effective network security strategy, and gaining a deep understanding of the solutions used, is crucial for the success of smart cities.
