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Why Cybercriminals are
Eyeing Smart Buildings
I
n countries like the United States, the growth of smart
buildings is estimated to reach 16.6% by 2020 compared
to 2014, although this expansion is not limited to the US but
rather is taking place on a global scale. This growth is largely
due to the fact we live in a world increasingly permeated by
technology, in which process automation and the search for
energy efficiency contribute not only to sustainability, but also to
cost reduction – a goal pursued in all industries, public and private
alike. Naturally, the construction industry is no exception, says
Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO at ESET South Africa.
Smart buildings use technology to control a wide range of
variables within their respective environments with the aim
of providing more comfort and contributing to the health and
productivity of the people inside them. To do so, they use so-
called Building Automation Systems (BAS). With the arrival
of the Internet of Things (IoT), smart buildings have redefined
themselves. With the information they obtain from smart sensors,
their technological equipment is used to analyse, predict, diagnose
and maintain the various environments within them, as well as to
automate processes and monitor numerous operational variables
in real time. Ambient temperature, lighting, security cameras,
elevators, parking and water management are just some of the
automatable services currently supported by the technology.
To put the possibilities of this smart infrastructure into
perspective, is the example of a smart building in Las Vegas
where, two years ago, they decided to install a sophisticated
automation system to control the use of the air conditioning
(keeping in mind Las Vegas has a hot desert climate and very
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little rain), so it is turned on only when there are people present.
This decision led to a saving of US$2 million during the first
year after the smart system was installed, due to the reduction
in energy consumption achieved by automating the process.
Marriott Hotels implemented a similar system across the entire
chain that is expected to generate an estimated US$9.9 million
in energy savings.
Another example of automation through smart devices is that
of a supermarket in the United Kingdom. The store installed a
smart system in its parking lot that generates a kinetic energy
from the movement of cars passing through it, and then uses
that energy to power the checkouts.
At first glance, we may not see any security risk in these
smart buildings. It is likely, however, that at some point the entire
smart network is connected to a single database, and that is
where the risk is. Particularly if we consider that many IoT devices
are manufactured by different suppliers, who may not have paid
due attention to security considerations during their design and
manufacturing process.
Possibility of a smart building being attacked
The risk of a security incident taking place in an intelligent building
is linked to the motivations of cybercriminals, who mainly seek
to achieve economic gain through their actions, as well as to
impact and spread fear.
There are already some tools such as Shodan that allow
anybody to discover vulnerable and/or unsecured IoT devices
connected publicly to the internet. If you search using the tool,
Cybercriminals