New | Hong Kong needs to bone up on security in drive for smart cities

Governments such as Hong Kong must sharpen their focus on security as they push forward development of smart cities alongside the rapid growth of internet-connected devices, according to Dominic Orr, president at wireless networking company Aruba.

As the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) -- the umbrella term for devices ranging from traffic monitors to temperature sensors connected to the internet -- grows, security must be considered from the start to protect data and networks.

“Security has to be built in from day one. Security that is retrofitting… is usually not a tight system and also it’s a lot of work,” Orr said. “And [for] any large government-sponsored deployment I advise people to have their security architecture designed from day one, day zero.”

Orr said that while most IoT projects were in the pilot stage, meaning overall security risks were low, this area will grow in the next 10 to 15 years and cannot be ignored.

Technology research firm Gartner has estimated that 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide this year, up 30 per cent from 4.9 billion last year. About 5.5 million new things will get connected every day, it said.

These things are not general-purpose devices, such as smartphones and personal computers, but a dedicated network of objects that include vending machines, jet engines, connected soap dispensers and myriad other examples that track, store and send data.