Enhancing security in the era of 5G, AI and IoT

Since their introduction in India in 2018, the Smart City initiative has put forth considerable efforts to improve the process of urbanisation. These cities generally leverage the latest technology to address broad issues like neighbourhood safety, economic development, and waste disposal, along with delivery of potable water, urban planning using green solutions, transportation concerns, and more. There are a number of elements that smart city planners need to focus on, one of which is issue of security.

Digital security investment in smart cities is severely lagging thus seeding the future vulnerabilities of the IoT ecosystem. Smart cities are comprised of a highly complex, interdependent network of devices, systems, platforms, and users. Smart energy, utilities, water and wastage, parking and automotive, industrial and manufacturing, building automation, e-government and telemedicine, surveillance and public safety are just some of the verticals that vendors and governments must secure.

Most of the latest technology is connected via the internet through AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things) and ICT (Internet Communication Technology) devices, making cybersecurity a large concern. Considering an entire city is operating on the same network – including homes, offices and public enterprises; it becomes crucial to ensure the protection of their data.

Other than the cybersecurity concerns, it is also necessary for city officials to ensure physical safety and security measures across the city, for the ease and convenience of citizens. These connected devices have the potential to offer innovative solutions in this space and should be employed for the betterment of life in the smart city.

Using AI for better security measures

AI uses elements of machine learning to continuously learn and evolve accordingly to its environment. Because of this, AI has the potential to aid in operations in a variety of sectors, which also includes safety and security. Multiple reports have revealed that AI is helping in cybersecurity applications tremendously, as it doesn’t require too much of human involvement, and can be operational 24/7, 365 days a year.

This makes AI-led cybersecurity systems a more effective defence against cyber-attacks, as they learn from each one, and update their systems accordingly. Other than these types of security breaches, AI devices can also be used for physical safety measures, in applications like crowd control, drone patrolling, facial recognition, alarms, license plate recognition and more. ICT devices can also be used to transform living and working environment, and in government systems

Security for IoT devices

IoT devices are a network of devices that can connect, converse and cooperate with one another, to find information and make decisions. A lot of personal data is collected on these devices, including a person’s name, age, health data, location and more. It thus becomes extremely important to secure the network, from threat of invaders, who wish to siphon this private data from it for a number of purposes like identity theft.

Thus a multi-layered approach is needed to secure these devices, which needs to be built from the ground up. From the installation stage of the device, the software systems need to be tested for authenticity. Post that, the access given to the device must be kept in check, to make sure that the device is only accessing the information you have given permission for.

When registering the device on the network, another level of security checks needs to be employed to confirm the identity of the device. In this fashion, care must be taken to employ appropriate security measures at each step of the IoT process, in order to avoid any breach of data and security.

Use of 5G in security

Ms Saily Lad, Director of Volksara Pvt Ltd and Krystal Group of Companies

Since a large number of elements in a smart city are dependent on internet connectivity, it is important to install technology that facilitates the connectivity in a better fashion, for optimised results. This is crucial in the case of security and safety as well. 5G technology offers a range of beneficial services like higher bandwidth, delivery and performance guarantees, reducing the time taken for carrying out operations.

It has much higher data rates (1-20 Gbit/s), enabling consumers to download content more quickly. It also has a much lower latency (1 ms), allowing users to experience less delay/lag when requesting data from the network — a latency of milliseconds, imperceptible to humans. Thus, 5G will be of great support in case of security systems, as it can help reduce the time taken to combat attacks and help resolve potential threats.