Cyber Defense Maturity Levels and Threat Models for Smart Cities

Smart cities are in development around the world to tackle urbanization challenges. Smart solutions are being developed to optimize scarce resources, reduce service cost, improve service quality and improve the livelihood of city residents. With smart city infrastructure getting digitized and remotely accessible, the risk of cyber security cannot be overlooked. This article describes the technical and non-technical challenges smart cities are facing with regards to cyber security attacks. The article outlines design requirements that should be considered when designing a secure smart city. The requirements are overarching technical, operational, social, safety, legal and usability domains. In addition, the article proposes cyber defense maturity levels for smart cities and describes threat models relevant to each maturity level.