Internet of Things Application for Intelligent Cities: Security Risk Assessment Challenges

Introduction

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the latest paradigm spanning various technological fields, from data discovery and processing to networking, device connectivity, and data analysis (Losavio, et al., 2018). It is used in many applications ranging from home security and factory automation to smart living and health care. The IoT offers many benefits and applications to intelligent cities, also called smart cities, including:

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  Optimizing city’s standard services

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  Improving situational awareness

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  Detection and correction of faults

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  Management of infrastructure

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  Better work practices

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  Monitoring air quality

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  Managing city resources

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  Energy monitoring and saving

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  Waste management

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  Better communication capabilities

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  Preventing traffic congestion.

The IoT represents a large set of diverse smart ‘things’ that are equipped with sensors and processing capabilities, connected via the Internet. The number of devices connected to the Internet already exceeds the number of people on earth and is expected to reach 50 to 200 billion devices by 2020 (Bujari and Furini, 2018). Connected devices generate and transmit huge amounts of data that allow citizens to better understand the state and evolution of their cities (Ismagilova, et al., 2019). Additionally, the collected data allows generation of significant insights which later lead to better decision making. Indeed, intelligent transport, smart energy management systems and digital environmental monitoring are all examples of the IoT applications for intelligent cities, also known as digital cities. Furthermore, relying on the IoT tolerates a smart management of the cities’ services. Thus, making tomorrow’s cities smarter and more sustainable by accommodating other devices able to be shared and scalable (Harmon, et al., 2015). Indeed, by conceiving smart cities, citizens are constructively engaged and influence the city management (Cardullo, Paolo, et al., 2019).

As portrayed in Figure 1, an intelligent city designates the incorporation of compound systems within its urban infrastructure allowing smarter living, architecture, mobility, health, environment and government (Ahvenniemi and Huovila, 2017). For instance:

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  The ability to communicate using a smartphone via video in order to allow doctors to check on their patients at home more frequently. Indeed, the patient’s data can be put to use as the benefits can range from an increased use of digital medical monitoring to genomic sequencing to obtain completely personalized treatments.

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  Intelligent waste collection management systems that make it is possible to know the level of waste in real time. Thus, making it possible to optimize the collection routes and reduce the number of kilometers traveled for collection.

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  Better control of energy expenditure where smart cities can also have real-time control of their energy consumption (using smart energy meters) and thus achieve positive savings both for their finances and for the environment.

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  Direct and flexible communication between citizens and their community via technologies such as social media and Web 2.0.

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  An improved public transport network allowing better management of urban traffic and optimizing the real-time flow of infrastructure.