The Internet of to make radical change in areas such as waste management and transportation. But how do agencies actually implement IoT strategies? How do they acquire the right tools and people to execute these big projects? In the most recent DorobekINSIDER Live, Christopher Dorobek sat down with GovLoop’s Senior Director of Editorial Services and Production, Catherine Andrews, and Associate Director of Cyber Physical Systems at NIST, Sokwoo Rhee, to discuss the top IoT innovations and challenges that state and local governments currently face.
There are very real challenges in deploying
state and local level,” Andrews explained. The best way to confront them is to first understand what these challenges are. Here are some of the top challenges and steps for overcoming them. Challenge 1: Security. “Security is one of the forefront challenges,” Andrews said. The question is how do you keep things safe? With IoT, this question becomes more pressing as the increase in connected devices leads to an increase in endpoint vulnerability. Any platform that is connected — from vending machines to alarm systems — pose the risk of being insecure and open to hackers. With IoT, security measures differ from traditional IT systems.
When transportation or utility systems get hacked,
the negative impact can be physically devastating, where people can actually get hurt. In order to combat security risks, you have to consider both systems and look at the risks that come from both sides. Challenge 2: Procurement. “It’s not just overseas chinese in worldwide data about procurement but the whole business model,” Rhee explained. “We have to think about how local and state government can work with the private sector and create win-win situations.” Currently, there are many models for subsidizing public-private partnerships. What’s important is understanding what works specifically for your agency.
It comes down to best practices, Rhee said
Don’t just consider the technology side 4 key points to open a successful e-commerce but the business side, too. Have examples of models for cities to choose from. There’s no real cookie cutter formula, but if agencies present a model, cities don’t have to go through the trials and errors that previous cities had to go through. Challenge 3: Regulation. Rhee discussed NIST’s success in its cybersecurity framework that’s not only adopted by government agencies but by private industries as well. “IoT is more rich data complicated than that,” Rhee said about the cyber framework. This is because IoT is connected to real applications like transportation, making it harder to come up with a single guideline.
Regulation is difficult to address when there
Instead, we have to understand what works and what doesn’t work,” Rhee said. “The question is how can we move on without creating an impact on the general society.” Innovation and regulation need to go hand-in-hand. The people working in both areas have to work together.