Imagine the most technologically advanced cities in the world – how does their everyday life look 10 years from now?
It’s probably very advanced and futuristic, with improved transportation, less pollution, enhanced security, and well-built infrastructure. The smart city concept helps cities all over the world make this dream a reality.
However, these types of solutions are under the constant threat of being attacked by hackers, and Smart City Cyber Range takes care of exactly that. It helps governments enhance their preparedness management plan and ensure the security of their citizens.
In this article, we will dive deep into this topic and tell you everything you need to know about Smart City Cyber Range, its benefits, and the technology’s customization to the city’s specific needs.
What Is the Smart City Cyber Range & Why Is It Important?
Simply put, the Smart City Cyber Range is a simulated environment that replicates technologies, systems, and tools used in smart cities.
Operational Technology (OT) and Internet of Things (IoT) systems paired with standard IT infrastructure units, such as workstations, servers, and networking equipment, enable the execution of various cybersecurity exercises for personnel working in municipal environments or for smart city technology providers.
For example, CybExer’s smart city visualization layer in the Integrated Scoring and Awareness (ISA) tool offers participants real-time feedback on the status of IT systems deployed within the range and their interconnection on a geospatial layer.
Integrating Smart City concepts into our everyday lives is becoming increasingly important every single year. Research shows that the global market for smart cities is projected to increase to $165.80 billion by 2028.
While it is great to take advantage of all the benefits that smart city solutions offer, we must also be aware of the cyber threats and challenges they potentially bring to our everyday lives. Cyber attacks evolve daily, which can potentially cause damage to smart city initiatives.
However, if we embrace innovative solutions like Smart City Cyber Range and put together a proper cyber preparedness plan, it will ensure the safety of our projects and help us avoid massive losses and damages.
How Is Smart City Cyber Range Relevant to Our Everyday Lives?
The primary challenge in today’s Smart City and IoT technologies landscape is the variety of protocols and platforms that are in use, making it harder for companies to adapt to new solutions and streamline their services according to them.
In order to make this process smoother, the Smart City Cyber Range provides a secure, isolated environment where administrators and security experts can safely explore this complex landscape.
It allows them to test configurations and defense strategies across different scenarios, building expertise in managing and securing these varied systems.
As a result, the process of acquiring new solutions and putting new technologies in use becomes way more streamlined and, most importantly, secure for both organizations and people benefiting from these solutions.
What types of organizations would benefit from this solution, you ask? Well, Smart City Cyber Range provides cybersecurity training, exercises, and digital twin technology for the following stakeholders:
- City & municipality organizations.
- Third parties operating smart city systems.
- Traffic operators: Public transportation, autonomous vehicles, etc.
- Critical infrastructure companies, such as power suppliers and other utilities.
Benefits of Smart City Cyber Range
There are lots of benefits that Smart City Cyber Range provides to any organization trying to deploy their solutions to digitally develop their cities.
The most prominent benefits of this technology things include:
Ability to Experiment With New Technologies
The cyber range and digital twins enable cities to experiment with new technologies in a secure, isolated, and responsible setting. That way, it is easier to test different solutions and choose the ones that fit your city’s needs the most.
In addition, organizations have the opportunity to reuse and replicate training modules at any time without having a major impact on their systems and live networks.
Ensure a Higher Level of Security
For organizations developing various smart city solutions, it is important to optimize their technology stack and security processes, which they can easily achieve with the help of smart city cyber range technology.
There are lots of different aspects that you can test, such as how quickly incident direction systems trigger and the different responses that the team initiates, just to name a few.
Build Confidence in Teams Deploying Smart City Solutions
Another significant benefit that smart city cyber ranges offer is that they build confidence in deploying smart technologies while minimizing potential cybersecurity risks.
It’s all about improving the skill set of your cybersecurity staff and boosting your organization’s overall cyber resilience. Your team members must be aware of potential cyber threats, and cyber range helps them exactly with that.
Efficiently Improve the Quality of Life for Citizens
Generally, the development of smart city solutions tends to improve the quality of life within a city. Most commonly, there is a higher chance of smoother traffic, cleaner air, enhanced public safety, and smarter waste management.
However, it is important to ensure the security of your solutions before offering them to the public because of ever-evolving cyber threats and attacks. Smart city cyber range can help you streamline this process and make your solutions more trustworthy for everyone.
How Can Smart City Cyber Range Technology Be Customized to the City’s Specific Needs?
Generally, organizations have the ability to configure the smart city cyber range technology to include specific systems, protocols, and network configurations.
The flexibility of the cyber range technology allows the implementation of customized threat scenarios relevant to the concerns, sizes, or levels of complexity that a particular organization might require.
A cyber range is a flexible environment that allows organizations to have customized threat scenarios that are relevant to their specific needs. This means that the technology has the ability to handle any kind of complexity, size, or scale that a particular organization might require.
This type of high-level customization allows for practice with a virtual twin of the IT environment, maximizing the relevance and efficiency of the team training and technology testing activities.
Cybexer Technologies – Leading the Way to Cyber Preparedness
Smart City Cyber Range is an important asset for the secure and reliable development of future solutions that make our cities more enjoyable to live in.
CybExer Technologies has been a driving force in the cybersecurity field since 2016. We work with multiple organizations globally and equip them with extensive training modules to elevate their cyber preparedness.
If you’d like to learn more about our offerings, feel free to schedule a call with our cyber range experts to discuss your organization’s needs.
