Q&A WITH LOUISE MONGER: THE RAPID EVOLUTION OF BUILDING SECURITY In this interview, Louise Monger, Vice President of Digital Buildings, Australia at Schneider Electric, discusses the many vulnerabilities of automated buildings — and what can be done to protect them. What are the biggest security issues you are seeing in the building automation industry right now? One of the biggest security risks facing building managers and their tenants right now is data breaches. Encouragingly, we are seeing new laws implemented to hold large organisations accountable for the way they handle personal information. Yet many organisations are struggling to implement efficient and secure systems. While laws like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) only apply to Europe, the regulation is applicable to anyone processing data for European citizens. To meet these regulations, organisations are resorting to outdated methods of handling and processing personal information, due to a lack of support for secure integration
between systems. For example, passing employee information around on spreadsheets in order to integrate the security systems has become a norm in the industry. It’s safe to say this is not best practice. Concern for the handling of personal information and potential data breaches is exacerbated by the fact we’re seeing an increase in cyber attacks, both in terms of their frequency and sophistication. Criminals are now using advanced techniques like artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation to carry out targeted attacks, resulting in data breaches, ransomware incidents and, in many cases, huge financial losses. This is only set to get worse with the proliferation of new tech, which is expanding the attack surface from the growing connectivity of devices and systems. For
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example, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, mobile devices and interconnected networks have introduced new avenues for attackers to exploit. Against this backdrop of increased regulations, data breaches, sophisticated cyber attacks and new technology, it’s imperative that industry leaders take action on their security solutions. It’s never been more important to consider technology and software partners that can develop tailored solutions for end-to-end cybersecurity.
Has the security landscape changed in recent years? If so, what changes have you observed? The security landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years and continues to evolve quickly where new threats are emerging. From increased frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks, through to AI-powered security solutions, there have been various large-scale changes to the landscape in the past few years that have completely reshaped the industry.
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