A new report from Navigant Research examines the cybersecurity landscape for intelligent buildings and the implications of increased Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. While smart buildings are centered around the ideas of connectivity and interactivity, new interfaces are dramatically increasing access points, providing gateways to sensitive data, and creating new vulnerabilities for building automation systems.
Further, the proliferation of IoT-enabled devices and third-party entities has widened the surface area for attack, compounding the security issue by making threat detection less straightforward and more difficult to remedy.
Navigant Research recommends intelligent building stakeholders take a proactive approach to cybersecurity threats by determining vulnerabilities and attack vectors and educating the enterprise. Stakeholders should take a layered approach to cybersecurity, in addition to building a cyber threat alliance and continuing to strengthen their line of defense.
The report, Cybersecurity Will Define Market Leaders in the Intelligent Buildings Market, examines the cybersecurity landscape for intelligent buildings and the implications of increased IoT connectivity. It analyzes several best practices and strategies that managers and vendors are taking to secure intelligent building systems.
The report also provides a list of recommendations for stakeholders to integrate into their cybersecurity frameworks as they continue to build resilience against threat vectors.
The information/operational technology (IT/OT) convergence has led to gaps in human capital skill sets, resulting in infrastructure that is subject to cybersecurity breaches.
This issue is exacerbated by trends in big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), which increase the vulnerabilities of a potentially weak IT architecture. Yet, data hacks and security breaches threaten more than just valuable digital assets. Cyber attacks also put physical infrastructure, tenant safety, and the bottom lines of businesses at risk.
Smart buildings are centered around the ideas of connectivity and interactivity. These ideas require human-machine interfaces to share information more broadly with the building staff, which now includes not just IT members, but also building engineers, facility managers, and even the C-suite.
The new interfaces increase access points, provide a gateway to sensitive data, and create new vulnerabilities for the building automation system. Meanwhile, the proliferation of IoT-enabled devices and third-party entities has widened the surface area for attack, further compounding the security issue by making threat detection less straightforward and more difficult to remedy.
Security issues are expected to grow in tandem with the flurry of IoT as part of the digital transformation within real estate. Navigant Research expects this nascent IoT cybersecurity market to show steady growth as the demand for strong security solutions continues to increase.
“Cybersecurity issues are expected to grow in tandem with the digital transformation of real estate through intelligent building technologies,” says Casey Talon, research director with Navigant Research. “The information/operational technology (IT/OT) convergence is a necessity for successful deployment and the use of intelligent building solutions, but in many customer organizations, these business units act in isolation. This creates gaps in human capital skill sets, resulting in infrastructure and processes that can be vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches.”
