What will the buildings sector look like post coronavirus? How can we utilise innovation to ensure business continuity and better define resilience? As the sector looks at how post-COVID19 digital retrofits will be implemented and financed, now is the time for the C Suite to not lose sight of the fundamentals of cybersecurity by design. New technology deployments will need to be more secure than ever and getting C level buy-in will be paramount. 

Firms are already deploying IoT sensors and “Smart Building Technologies” across airports, hospitals and leisure facilities. From temperature sensing and imaging equipment that integrates intelligent video and artificial intelligence to detect fever and rapidly diagnose infection, new proactive surveillance technologies will be utilised for epidemic prevention and control. Buildings of the future will include contactless pathways, the reprogramming of Building Management Systems to manage “indoor humidity levels to minimize the survival rate of viruses and white light disinfection LED technology” and the ability to facilitate the remote operation of buildings in lockdown situations.
For the cybersecurity team, not only were we playing catch-up to minimise the impact of IoT devices across the network “pre Coronavirus,” we now have greater challenges and opportunities post COVID19.

For the past ten years, the Cyber Senate has had hundreds of discussions with critical infrastructure leaders across the world about how to ensure C Level Buy-In. As an industry, we have moved collectively from “Where is the ROI in cybersecurity?” to “We need to increase our cybersecurity budgets and ensure secure deployment.” Smart buildings will play an increasingly important role to help detect and control the spread of infectious diseases and it is vital that we continue to empower our CISO’s with tools and budgets to deploy cybersecurity fundamentals as the core of this new health and safety driven digital paradigm. 

Please join us on June 23/24th for our online virtual conference “Cyber Security for Building Management Systems.” Leading subject matter experts, government and commercial real estate leaders will address their challenges and best practices through a series of webinar presentations, panel discussions and roundtables, all with face to face video opportunities and chat tools in our new online platform.