Tartu to enhance cybersecurity for smart city solutions

On Thursday, 20 July, the city of Tartu and the University of Tartu signed a cooperation agreement with the cybersecurity company CybExer Technologies. The cooperation aims to create a better understanding of cyber threats, enhance the cybersecurity of smart city solutions and raise awareness of risk management across Estonia.

Cities and local governments worldwide are investing increasingly more time and budget in smart city solutions to improve the quality of people’s lives and the efficiency of services and meet the citizens’ needs through technological capabilities. 

“The deployment of smart city solutions requires a high level of safety and security and end-user confidence in the system, which is why efficient cooperation with cybersecurity experts is crucial. Well-designed, sophisticated smart city solutions and preparedness for cyber threats and attacks are critical,” said Getter Kartau, Head of Data Management at Tartu City Government.

Tambet Matiisen, Tech Lead at the University of Tartu’s Autonomous Driving Lab, says he is delighted to be involved in the research project. “During the project, we will provide the digital twin of Tartu city centre and conduct a thorough security analysis of the deployed solution. We firmly believe that future smart city solutions must undergo comprehensive analysis and testing, and this can be successfully performed by means of the cyber range developed by CybExer Technologies,” said Matiisen.

The applied research study led by CybExer Technologies includes investigating the cybersecurity of smart city mobility solutions using the cyber range technology. A cyber range is an isolated and flexible environment that is used to test the cybersecurity of technologies and train cybersecurity professionals.

The project will investigate the data flows of smart city solutions, conduct security architecture studies and model cross-dependencies of smart city cybersecurity on the cyber range.