NCSC Recommends Increasing Security For Smart Cities And Companies

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has reminded smart cities and companies to be more diligent in making their IT systems safer. With an increase in connectivity and sharing of private data, smart cities and businesses have become prime targets for hackers looking to disrupt their systems or spy on them. It is highly recommended to work with an expert IT support company in London as their services greatly benefit any organisation that uses technology. Getting regular audits and checks from skilled IT support in London will help you keep your processes and systems in check and safe from any type of threat.

The NCSC has called for a better and more systematised process in the guidelines they recently published. This was addressed to local authorities and geared towards protecting connected places.

The Smart City Guidelines

The guidelines they have set were aimed at providing authorities with awareness and understanding of what must be considered when designing, building, and managing their connected places or smart cities.

These were recommendations that were based on a set of cybersecurity principles. The guidelines were primarily for local and national UK authorities, particularly CISOs, cybersecurity architects and engineers, and other related personnel.

Connected areas are those with systems that manage traffic lights, CCTVs, waste management, streetlights, parking, transport services, and public services.

Smart City Challenges

Smart cities have their own set of challenges. One of their primary concerns is the safekeeping of critical functions and services for its citizens. This is because citizens rely on these systems to be able to keep on moving, processing, and storing private data.

If these connected systems become compromised, the consequences may become dire for local citizens. Any breaches of privacy may lead to disruption or total failure of critical functions. If local authorities are also attacked, there are severe implications like loss of reputation, leading to lower morale or even affecting the city’s economy. This is why NCSC warns authorities about control over critical public services, especially in keeping large volumes of private data from being stolen.

Even with the many benefits of a smart city to its residents, once disrupted or hacked, it can cause many problems to both citizens and the governing authorities.

Risk of Dependency on Technology

Even with the many benefits of relying on technology to make life more convenient for people, it has its fair share of risks involved. Along with the warnings from the NCSC are the possible destructive impacts if systems malfunction or get hacked by hostile individuals or states.

Another concern is that a large volume of individuals’ data is being collected every day, which, if accessed or stolen by criminals, could erode the privacy of people in the city.

Dr Ian Levy, technical director of the NCSC, said that failures in individual systems could have terrible effects. Also, since they are connected to other systems and are sometimes interdependent, a compound effect could potentially happen.

He also said that since connected physical environments are still at an early stage in the UK, it is crucial to make sure that the designing and building of these systems are done correctly.

According to the guidelines, some countries seek to retrieve sensitive commercial and personal data from other countries. There is great potential in causing disruption to overseas services if this is allowed to continue.

Cyber Security for Small Businesses

NCSC maintains that any type of business or organisation is prone to reputation damage by motivated attackers. Some even have the audacity to carry out multiple stages of attacks where they employ different techniques and tools.

This is why reducing your exposure to security controls is of utmost importance, especially if you’re using systems that may become compromised in the event a hacker tries to break in.

An IT support company in London can help provide different means to prevent these untoward attacks. They can set up boundary firewalls, which are perimeter defences that can block a computer’s direct access to the Internet. They can also provide you with malware protection, patch management, whitelist control, and many other significant defence systems for your organisation.

Additionally, the NCSC also recommends taking internal measures so that your company has a solid first line of defence against untoward incidents. Teaching in-house personnel how to identify any unexpected or suspicious activities is a good start. To enhance this, user training, education, awareness, and security incident management are further steps companies can take to provide better security using their immediate resources.

Mitigation of Attacks Different Stages

When a company collects information, and the data is for open consumption, it should be systematically filtered before it is released to make sure that anything perceived as valuable to the attacker can be removed.

Training users is essential at this stage. They need to be aware that there are certain risks involved when discussing work-related topics and that they may be vulnerable to phishing attacks.

When delivering the data, updating malware protection, installing firewalls and proxy servers, enforcing a strong password policy, and configuration to a more secure and limited functionality should all be considered.

In the case of an actual breach, creating new patches that address vulnerable aspects should be applied immediately, as well as increasing malware protection and modifying user access controls.

Reduce the Risk of Attacks on Your Company

There are a lot of things that need to be considered to make any system safer and more secure from cyberattacks. This is why it is important to always be several steps ahead in your security game.

For peace of mind, UK IT Service - IT Support London will provide you with everything you need to make your systems safer and more protected from any form of cyber-attack. We provide the best IT support in London and have earned the trust of many clients across the country.

So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us at 020 3034 1059 and work with our expert team today.