Rwanda has announced its plans to modernize its infrastructure through the implementation of smart-city initiatives. However, experts are warning that these efforts will bring about new cybersecurity requirements and challenges.
During the Smart Cities Africa conference, officials presented the concept of Smart City Hubs, which aims to promote collaboration among African nations in the development of smart cities and to build 100 smart cities by 2100. This project aligns with Rwanda’s vision to test, scale, and promote cutting-edge solutions in order to create smart cities within the country and share insights with other nations.
While smart cities offer numerous benefits, they also come with their own set of cybersecurity risks. Hollie Hennessy, a senior analyst for IoT cybersecurity at Omdia, explains that smart cities are essentially large-scale implementations of IoT (Internet of Things), which adds complexity due to the multiple connections between devices, buildings, and infrastructure. The responsibility for securing these connections and systems falls on various stakeholders, including system integrators, service providers, and mobile network operators.
Deloitte, in a recent report, highlights the increasing cyber threats faced by cities due to hyper connectivity and digitization. The report recommends that cities looking to transition to smart cities proactively address the skills gap by offering crowdsourcing, prizes, and challenges to attract cybersecurity talent.
At the Smart Cities Summit, Ghislaine Kayigi, the chief cybersecurity standards officer at Rwanda’s National Cyber Security Authority, emphasized the need to identify and address infrastructure vulnerabilities within smart cities. Additionally, the risk associated with personal data in an environment with a growing number of connected devices, such as IoT and connected city infrastructure, was acknowledged. To mitigate these risks, standardized security measures and collaboration with regulators were deemed essential by Arsene Simbi, the team lead of the Smarttec Division at Salvi Rwanda.
Yannick Berneron, the vice president of Hitachi Systems Security, underscored the importance of data-driven trust, security by design, and the role of zero-trust architecture in the development of smart cities. He also emphasized the need for data privacy to be a core consideration in the planning and implementation of smart cities, and highlighted the importance of robust laws and vigilant monitoring to combat cyber threats.
The significance of addressing cybersecurity in smart city initiatives cannot be overlooked. Researchers have already demonstrated security flaws in smart city technology, and attacks on cities and critical infrastructure have been on the rise. One of the major challenges in securing smart cities is the lack of testing and oversight, as well as the extensive attack surface that these cities present.
As Rwanda moves forward with its plans to build smart cities, it is crucial to prioritize cybersecurity and implement measures to safeguard critical infrastructure and personal data. Collaboration among stakeholders, proactive risk assessments, standardized security measures, and robust laws and regulations will be key to creating secure and resilient smart cities in Rwanda and across the African continent.