Heatwave exposes critical threats, Wireless Logic comments

As the summer heatwave across Europe continues to shatter temperature records, the World

Meteorological Organisation is warns that with these temperatures are fast becoming the new normal critical infrastructure is under threat.  We talk with Iain Davidson, Head of Product Marketing,

Wireless Logic about the importance of resilience if critical systems are to remain online.  
 
“The impact of Internet of Things (IoT) downtime caused by extreme heat is widespread – the IoT is everywhere, underpinning critical industries like energy, transport and healthcare, sharing data from sensors, monitors, trackers and more. With global connections forecast to reach 40 billion+ in 2034, our daily reliance on the IoT will continue to grow.  Unfortunately, this dependence rises in parallel with the extreme temperatures we are witnessing across Europe.”
 
“And it’s not only heat.  Climate change drives a full spectrum of extreme weather events.  The flooding.  Storms and prolonged rainfall now becoming routine in the UK and across Europe present an equally serious threat to connected infrastructure, submerging equipment in areas with no flood history or flood risk and severing the connectivity that critical operations depend on.”

“When these events force systems offline, safety-critical operations are put at risk.  This can impact everything from energy grids to hospital monitoring systems, street lighting, and security.  As our climate changes, IoT providers must build resilience from the outset.  While it’s impossible to eliminate the risk of outages entirely, enterprises can take significant steps to reduce their likelihood and impact.”

“That means comprehensive disaster recovery, data backup and restoration plans.  It means multiple layers of failover including backup power, alternative networks and redundant SIM capabilities, to keep sensitive data moving – and that means treating cybersecurity as part of the same resilience equation.  IoT devices are now the most frequently attacked in the UK, targeted on average 178 times a day.  A device weakened or knocked offline by physical disruption becomes a far easier target.  Resilience and security cannot be planned in isolation.  Ultimately, minimizing the impact of extreme weather comes down to proactive planning at the design stage.”