Pivotal role of cyber security in Internet of Things-based smart cities: An analytical framework for safe smart cities

Abstract

The modern era is of information and communication technology (ICT), where a normal human being is acting as a component of technology either directly or indirectly. Technology has been a part of the modern lifestyle, and humans are trying to get maximum benefits from it. A smart city is an example of advanced technology that can provide 360 views of a city with each aspect of operations. Cities like London and San Francisco have smart technology that already solves real-time problems, such as traffic monitoring, wastage management, packing, surveillance, etc. The innovation in smart citifies has been experienced by the whole world, and modern technologies creating economic and social opportunities. Through the Internet of Things (IoT), people can connect to smartphones, smart homes, smart cars, and other social systems. IoT services and systems will only grow in number and scope in the future. IoT’s success is beginning to fade due to the increasing number of threats and assaults against IoT devices and services. Cybersecurity is a crucial concern because cyberattacks are not new, but attacks on IoT are growing more prevalent due to the technology’s embeddedness in society and daily life. Hence, there is a need for a mechanism that can secure IoT-based smart cities. However, IoT applications may perhaps be accessed through the smartphone which gets input from the user-end and provides results such as weather and traffic updates, etc. Smartphone has a lot of data which are related to the user’s personal and professional life. Therefore, many challenges occur during the development of IoT application related to security and privacy. The first aim of any IoT-based application should be to provide high-level security to user data and store only the required data of the user on the server. No need to take unnecessary information from users that can be misused by hackers. Keeping all the important points in mind, a two-way security model for an IoT application has been proposed that can protect smart applications from cyber-attacks.