Cyber security and data

The exponential growth of data has become a core asset for driving future economic growth and efficiencies. Especially in the Smart Sustainable City given the vast number of connected sensors and devices, large populations, and real time data flows.

Protecting that data and addressing the multi-faceted regulatory controls on its use, access and sharing have become vital issues that impact virtually every organization.

Whether it relates to transportation, utilities, telecoms or public services, navigating the requirements relating to the life cycle of collection, use, disclosure and sharing is becoming more challenging. And as cyberattacks continue to grow more prevalent, destructive and expensive, authorities across the globe must consider the raft of issues to protect against future attacks.

The security of data, and transparency around data breaches, is subject to various regulations depending on the nature of the data and the nature of the organization responsible for its security. Data breaches which allow unauthorized access to data in transit or at rest, however, are not the only considerations in relation to the resilient of data infrastructure.

Availability of data is also a key aspect of data infrastructure resilience. Cyberattacks can count for a significant percentage of data center outages suffered – an impact which will be felt by those seeking access to the data; and a cyberattack on a data center is only one part of the equation - any holistic review must take into consideration all potential cyber threats.