Security of various applications and securing data are equally important while providing online services to public in a smart city and protocols and standard operating procedures should be in place and the government agencies should give importance to security aspect of applications, Commissioner of Police Amit Garg has said.
In his key note address on ‘Security challenges in smart cities’ at India Fire and Security Yatra on Saturday, he said State Data Research Centre in the offing would help in prevention of various agencies penetrating websites.
With more and more services offered online, there was a conflict of interest between better functioning of systems and securing data. There should be a robust system to check fraud with a lot of online trading taking place as the city becomes smart, Mr. Garg said.
Also there should be a protocol on who should have access to what data and a backup plan, he said pointing a recent instance of tampering with data in the issue of birth certificate.
The municipal corporation’s core IT team should be strengthened along with smart city projects.
Mr. Garg said total logistic support including other agencies with power, connectivity and communication system was required for initiatives to work.
Recalling his experience at the helm handling traffic in Hyderabad, he said 20 per cent of surveillance cameras did not work. Even in Visakhapatnam now with connectivity problems for vehicle tracking and passport verification with tabs.
Mr. Garg earlier spoke on the recent initiatives for passport verification, i-click kiosks and Abhaya app.
As the city prospered economically and socially it might become vulnerable to urban terrorism, he felt.
Cyber crime police station soon
The City Police will soon have a Cyber crime police station in the place of the present Cyber Crime Investigation wing, Police Commissioner Amit Garg said. Right now we have the cyber crime investigation wing that is not well equipped facing resource and manpower limitations, he said. “A case is booked at the police station concerned and is transferred to the wing since it is not a designated police station. The wing is facilitating the investigation,” he said.
The draft GO had already been issued. Soon the government order granting the setting up of the cyber police station would be issued, he said.
