| | APRIL 20199tive of this mission is to leverage technology to address the issues facing urban cities in India. With almost an estimate of 2.7 billion connected devices in India by 2020, according to NASSCOM and Deloitte, one can imagine the whopping amount of data that these will create.As networks, things, and peo-ple become ever more connected, it brings a magnitude of threats and increased risk. Data and in-formation are simply far more vulnerable, threatening individu-als, organisations, cities and even entire nations that are increasing-ly dependent on these technology frameworks. This is especially the case as the infinite supply of data becomes more integral to a wide array of operations.At the core of any smart city de-signing its privacy & data security and employees' & citizens' safe-ty are most important elements. Among many other elements, this starts with ensuring that govern-ment and private organisations have the appropriate systems, training and business continui-ty procedures in place to be both cyber-resilient and crisis-ready. So where do they start? Data: The Core for a Smart EcosystemIt is already understood that in the digital age we are living in, data is smart city's most vital asset. It provides governments and compa-nies with insights and influences decisions and actions required to resolve issues. It could be a false alarm that unnecessarily triggers panic, a cyber-attack on a hospital that brings a halt to scheduled op-erations or perhaps interference with traffic lights at intersections or train schedules. This is not in the future, it is happening now. Look at how Wannacry impacted the NHS in the UK in 2018 and the false ballistic missile alarm triggered in Hawaii. Furthermore, as we progress to-wards a digitally enabled economy in India, we are seeing industries like the banking sector rapidly adopting newer technologies and digital channels to improve ser-vices for customers and encour-age cashless transactions. Some financial institutions are even describing themselves as `tech companies' these days. However, the adoption of advanced cyberse-curity practices has not kept pace with the rate of evolution. Many of these communications involves interchange of confidential data, which if not secured, puts both the customer and the bank at risk.Leading by example, Bank BRI, one of the largest banks in Indo-nesia, took proactive measures to mitigate cyber-risk. To protect the financial data of its customers and allow its employees to more effectively collaborate, BRI de-ployed BlackBerry's Unified End-Point Management software. With BlackBerry UEM, the bank now has complete endpoint manage-ment and policy control solution of devices and apps. More impor-tantly, it ensures BRI is well-po-sitioned to comply with any new privacy and security regulations.Amplify Security When Stakes are HighIn smart city design, information must be secured at every single layer. Taking a holistic approach with secure software, training, policies, and procedures will mit-igate risks associated with cyber-security, data privacy and help prevent man-made disasters. In a world as connected as ours ­ and with our cities getting smarter, governments, emergency services and other organisations are in-creasingly reliant upon technol-ogy in a crisis. It must provide real-time access to correct data, enable effective communications with each other, and with those they are trying to help. Although organisations may not be able to control when security incidents occur, they can mitigate risk and control how they respond to them. For instance, among police, medics, fire fighters and other first responders, real-time access to key data and key people can be the difference between success and Amit Mehta
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