The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which will host a conference in February on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), has announced the organization will employ an Internet of Things approach concerning “mission critical” applications such as transportation, public safety and utilities.
This article in Security Info Watch focuses on a February Smart and Secure Cities and Communities Challenge (SC3) conference in Washington, D.C. The conference is expected to bring together attendees from around the world to exchange ideas around secure strategies for planning smart cities.
Sokwoo Rhee, associate director of the Cyber-Physical Systems Program at NIST, said the organization “uses the term ‘CPS’ interchangeably with ‘IoT,” adding that “we joke and say 'cyber-physical systems' is IoT on steroids.”
According to Rhee, “cybersecurity and privacy have become the focus of NIST this year, which is why NIST partnered with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate to specifically address the security issue.”
The National Governors Association (NGA) has also made cybersecurity a top priority as technology continues to play a large role in more and more state and local governments. Timothy Blute, director of the National Governors Association Future Office, and a speaker at the conference, explains that as manufacturers continue to network and link just about everything in the world, cyberthreats are ever present. “Rather than just think, how quickly can be bring something online that makes the community 'smarter,' let's think of how we can put security on the front end of that,” said Blute.
NIST, by assembling representatives from the public, private and academic sectors to address smart city solutions, is taking the lead to bring state and local governments, communities and corporations to discuss smart cities initiatives that follow proven IoT security principles.
