Cyber security best practices for smart cities

New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued a joint guide in partnership with:

• the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),
• the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
• the National Security Agency (NSA), and
• the cyber security authorities of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

This joint guidance, Cyber Security Best Practices for Smart Cities, recognises that communities may pursue cost-saving and quality-of-life improvements by digitally transforming infrastructure into “smart cities”. It outlines recommendations to help balance efficiency and innovation with cyber security, privacy, and national security.

In this context, “smart cities” refers to communities that use information and communication technologies (ICT), community-wide data, and intelligent solutions to digitally transform infrastructure and improve governance. These systems connect the operational technology (OT) that manages physical infrastructure with networks and applications that collect and analyse data using technologies such as internet of things (IoT) devices, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G.

The guidance encourages organisations to adopt best practices that meet their specific cyber security needs, to ensure safe and secure infrastructure, protect citizens' private data, and safeguard sensitive government and business information.

Joint guidance: Cybersecurity best practices for smart cities [PDF, 604 KB]

For questions related to this guidance, email info@ncsc.govt.nz.