SEC URIT Y F E AT URE
Intelligent Building Security Guidance in protecting your organisation against building automation vulnerabilities, threats & risks INTRODUCTION
Intelligent Buildings, or more correctly Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS), have become embedded into today’s contemporary buildings. Furthermore, BACS continues to grow up to 34 percent a year, due to the demand for reduced operating costs, improved information flow and greater sustainability. Such growth highlights the impact that BACS will have in most buildings.
By David J Brooks & Michael Coole
30 S EC U R I T Y I N S I D ER | A PR/ M AY 201 8
However, BACS comes with security vulnerabilities not previously considered by many building and security professionals. Security vulnerabilities stem from its integration across all facets of the built environment, integrating HVAC, lighting and today, security systems. Consequently, if BACS security is not considered these vulnerabilities will expose organisations to harm A BACS research project was recently undertaken, investigating vulnerabilities along with security and facility professional’s understanding of security practices. Findings indicated a limited understanding of BACS risks and importantly, suitability in resulting mitigation strategies. The project therefore developed a BACS Security Guidance document to inform professionals.
WHAT ARE BACS? BACS is an automated building system that integrates many different building plant and equipment to aid information flow and provide centralised decision-making and control. BACS are modular, formed from a number of devices and equipment on a common network with open communication protocols. The connectivity, automation and control of the building is achieved through a standardised BACS technical architecture. The architecture (Figure 1) is based on three levels of Management, Automation and Field device. The Management level is the human