Natalya Kaspersky, President of InfoWatch Group, took part in a plenary session of the fourth Arab Future Cities Summit Dubai (AFCS Dubai) 2017 held on October 30-31 in Dubai, UAE. As part of the panel discussion,Natalya told the attendees how global IoT and IIoT development exposes companies to new cyber threats and how to design smart cities being resistant to internal and external attacks.
Natalya Kaspersky emphasized that new technologies emerge faster than relevant security tools, thus making it impossible to protect each and every device, software program or system, all of which may be a part of smart city design. Therefore, smart city creators need to take all security measures possible.
“The main challenge here is that IoT developers do not think about device vulnerabilities, while cybersecurity experts do not understand hardware operation specifics,” said Natalya Kaspersky, President of InfoWatch Group. “To this end, a full-fledged participation of cybersecurity specialists in the creation of a new device or system may make the difference. Moreover, smart city cybersecurity requires active involvement of government representatives.”
Natalya Kaspersky also reminded the attendees of the need for international standardization and fundamental regulations for IoT and IIoT cybersecurity.
“A unified approach to cybersecurity of personal devices and smart cities will help prevent ransomware attacks, such as Petya and WannaCry,” noted InfoWatch Group President. “Using all existing cybersecurity technologies to protect every infrastructure component will make it possible to create secure and comfortable cities of the future.
At the summit, Dr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, UAE, visited InfoWatch booth to see the company’s product portfolio localized for the Middle East market.
The Russian vendor’s booth at AFCS Dubai 2017 expo featured insider threat protection solutions for smart systems of SME (InfoWatch Person Monitor), medium-sized and large enterprises (InfoWatch Traffic Monitor), and TaigaPhone hardware and software suite to put smartphone use in working environments under control. In addition, the company showcased InfoWatch Attack Killer, its end-to-end system for automatic web resource protection, with particular attention being paid to InfoWatch ASAP, a suite of protection services and solutions for industrial control systems.
Background
Arab Future Cities Summit Dubai has been held in Dubai since 2014, with its speakers and guests including ministers, top managers, scientists, IT specialists, technical experts, green construction consultants, and architects. The event is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, UAE. This year, the summit featured presentations of 40 international specialists and a total of over 600 expert attendees.
