Skip to main content

WEBINAR: 'We’re uniquely exposed to cyberthreats in this industry'

Watch on-demand: Defending ITS and Roadways from Cyberthreats
By Adam Hill November 1, 2024 Read time: 2 mins
Advanced ITS applications such as pedestrian safety are being built out around the world (© Hanohiki | Dreamstime.com)

Cisco's webinar Defending ITS and Roadways from Cyberthreats - a collaboration with ITS International - is now available to watch on-demand.

If you missed it, you can still register now and view the webinar in its entirety: click here to watch.

The fireside chat looked at the key capabilities of a modern and secure WAN infrastructure supporting advanced ITS applications, and considered what measures to prioritise in order to get an ITS security project off the ground.

Speakers are:

Cassie McEnroe, public sector sales lead, Cisco IIoT
Pete Kavanagh, principal architect, roadways solutions, Cisco IIoT
Paul Lennon, CTO, Skyline Technology Solutions
Moderator is: ITS International editor Adam Hill

One of the biggest questions from companies to the panel is ‘How do we get started?’

“It’s a journey and it’s not going to be one-size-fits-all,” says McEnroe. “Ten to 20 years ago, when we were building out intelligent transportation systems, it was very different."

“We talked about the advanced applications - V2X [Vehicle to Everything], transit signal priority, pedestrian safety – all being enabled and enhanced through the use of technology. But now those advanced applications are here today and they’re being implemented all over the world. Different organisations have very different thoughts about how you should approach security.”

In transportation there are some older pieces of equipment – dynamic message signs, for example - in the field that were never intended to be controlled, they don’t have such basic cybersecurity measures as password management, Lennon explains.

“You have assets out there which, by definition, are going to be vulnerable," he says. "And that’s a risk you just need to understand."

Kavanagh adds: “Back when some of this stuff was defined, security wasn’t really on anyone’s radar."

The good thing is that there’s an emerging acceptance of cybersecurity risks, he says.

"With a road traffic cabinet, it’s there on the street where the general public are walking by," Kavanagh continues. "We’re uniquely exposed in this industry. It’s important that we think about these cabinets as, effectively, an extension of our corporate network that needs to be equally as secured as if it’s in the office I’m sitting in.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Data can help us mind the transportation gender gap
    April 18, 2023
    A gendered perspective in public transport is essential if we are to achieve equality, suggest Emma Chapman and Naomi Grant of WhereIsMyTransport 
  • A journey into the Dilemma Zone with Econolite
    January 16, 2025
    Indecision on the road can kill. Econolite’s Sunny Chakravarty and Vincent Mayeda present new data-driven dilemma zone and intersection safety strategies for a Vision Zero future
  • Oregon trials road user charging
    February 11, 2013
    In Oregon, gas-tax money funds about 58 per cent of the budget used to take care of the state’s roads. As vehicles become more fuel efficient, the gas tax, which is 30 cents a gallon in Oregon and 37 cents in Washington, will generate less and less money. “If we’re using gasoline and diesel sales to fund our transportation system, we’re going to be in big trouble,” said Patrick Cooney of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Recognizing the problem early, Oregon started studying alternatives to th
  • FHWA aims to improve VRU safety with new traffic control manual
    December 21, 2023
    11th edition of MUTCD - the first in 14 years - reflects 'changes in how Americans travel'