A Smart, Secure Approach To Smart Cities
Smart cities will soon become essential. But without a plan that accounts for both infrastructure capacity and security, investments can easily go awry.
Key takeawaysThis key takeaway was generated through LLMs crawling the page and coming up with an overview of the content.The article explains how cities adopting smart technologies must plan for infrastructure capacity and cybersecurity, emphasizing DNS as a foundational component. It warns that unprotected IoT devices increase risk to critical systems and recommends goals-first planning to ensure networks are reliable, scalable, and secure. The piece highlights agentless DNS-based security (e.g., DNS Edge) and cites Estonia’s X-Road as an example of a holistic, secure information exchange approach.
Why is DNS important when planning smart city infrastructure?
DNS is critical because every connected device and sensor in a smart city will rely on the network’s name resolution and traffic routing; if DNS cannot handle the increased load or is insecure, the entire smart-city ecosystem can suffer degraded performance or be leveraged by attackers. The article advises assessing network capacity from the first hop and choosing a flexible, scalable DNS that can grow with the city’s needs. Treating DNS as part of both infrastructure planning and cybersecurity ensures it supports new processes without becoming a bottleneck or a vulnerability.
How do unprotected IoT devices threaten smart city systems?
Unprotected IoT devices expand the attack surface because each device can serve as an entry point for bad actors seeking access to more sensitive infrastructure. The article stresses that attackers aren’t necessarily targeting devices like streetlights themselves but are using them as stepping stones toward critical systems and data. Therefore, securing IoT deployments — including leveraging DNS-based protections — is essential to avoid compromising broader municipal networks and services.
What operational advantages do agentless DNS security solutions provide for municipalities?
Agentless DNS security solutions, such as DNS Edge referenced in the article, provide protection without requiring software agents on each device, which simplifies deployment across a heterogeneous estate of sensors and legacy hardware. Because they operate at the DNS layer, they avoid consuming device memory, bandwidth, and processing resources, and can be implemented quickly to reduce exposure. This makes agentless DNS controls a practical option for cities that need scalable, low-impact security that integrates with existing network infrastructure.
Cities are getting smarter and smarter. Whether it’s simplifying data collection, revamping the voting process, or installing smart traffic lights to effectively manage congestion, there are a number of new and exciting technologies municipal and local governments can implement to simplify and improve quality of life while streamlining processes. And with over half of the worldwide population living in cities, smart cities will soon become essential. But without a plan that accounts for both infrastructure capacity and security, smart city investments can easily go awry.
Building from the Ground Up
From the first hop, your DNS has to be capable of handling the load of all these new connected devices, sensors, and more. It’s important to not let the excitement of new technologies cloud your careful assessment of your network capabilities and capacity. Approach your smart city with a goals-first strategy. What do you want to accomplish? What are the priorities of the city and the citizens? Being connected for the sake of being connected doesn’t benefit anyone.
Account for your needs of today and the future and make sure you have a reliable, scalable network that can handle the load and processes. As your smart city grows in size and popularity, you’ll soon realize the importance of having a flexible, scalable, secure DNS that can grow and shift with the needs of the city. All these new processes and concepts require a hard look at your network infrastructure, as all of these initiatives will ultimately rely on the current city’s network with a slew of new (unprotected) IoT devices.
Securing Your Smart Cities
With any new technology comes risks. It’s crucial that all stakeholders temper their excitement for new and exciting technologies with the gravity of today’s breach reality. For example, smart traffic lights, parking meters, and charging stations can all be connected via sensors and other IoT devices to help reduce congestion and optimize parking. But the fact is every unprotected IoT device serves as another brick in a bad actor’s road to your sensitive data and critical systems. Because the fact is they’re not trying to get access to your streetlights, they’re trying to get access to your infrastructure.
DNS should be a crucial part of any cyber security stack. After all, the bad guys are using it to gain access to your networks, so why not use it against them? By utilizing DNS to secure your IoT devices, you save yourself the trouble of tinkering with the operation of the device itself. Agentless solutions like DNS Edge allow for easy implementation without consuming memory, bandwidth, and operating resources with an outside agent.
The Future Is Now
Smart cities are not some far away, Jetsons-like dream. Governments are taking more steps towards bringing their municipalities into the future. In fact, one of the most amazing examples of a smart city is not a city at all, but a country. Estonia spent 10 years crafting and creating X-Road, the foundation of e-Estonia. “X-Road, the data exchange layer for information systems, is a technological and organizational environment enabling a secure Internet-based data exchange between information systems.” Estonia understands the risks involved in transferring sensitive data, and takes a holistic approach to information systems, with cyber security, data integrity and network capacity as the core foundation.
When you’re looking at planning your smart city, DNS should be first on the list for both cyber security and infrastructure. Interested in ensuring your DNS infrastructure is ready? Want to learn how to leverage that infrastructure to provide easily implemented, agentless security? Get in touch with us.
Smart cities open up a world of possibilities. Instead of being connected for the sake of being connected, citizens and institutions can work together to create seamless and simplified processes that improve day-to-day life for everyone.
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Anna is a passionate content writer who’s always eager to learn something new about cyber security.
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