City data collection sparks data privacy concerns

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City data collection overview: 

• Who: Cities such as Seattle and New York, which collect more and more data from their residents, have been warned they also need to be able to protect that data from cybersecurity threats. 
• Why: Hacking groups have increased cyber attacks in the digital age, leading to more privacy concerns. 
• Where: Cities around the nation collect data about their residents and operations. 

Smart cities increasingly collecting the data of their residents must be aware of privacy concerns related to potential data breaches, malware and cyber attacks. 

Cities collect large swathes of data from their inhabitants and about the city itself, such as its waste management, utilities and traffic flow, Emerging Tech Brew reports.

And city data collection is not limited to just city operations. Some cities, such as Seattle,  also actively collect data on residents and their family members. 

The City of Seattle revealed that it collects a number of data from its residents, including names, biometric data, trade union memberships, racial or ethnic origins and driver’s license information, among other things. 

Industry experts, meanwhile, have said that the increase in city data collection abilities has made it imperative that cities also do their part to protect the data from outside cyber threats, Emerging Tech Brew reports. 

Seattle, for its part, reportedly boosted its budget for digital security and risk from $5.3 million in 2020 to $7.5 million in 2022. 

City data collection puts residents at risk of personal data exposure in event of cyber attack 

Residents of a city that collects their data can be at risk of having their personally identifiable information exposed in the event of a cyber attack or data breach. 

This personally identifiable information could include an individual’s name, phone number, Social Security number, address or bank account, among other things, Emerging Tech Brew reports. 

For example, New York state reportedly invested more than $60 million in beefing up its ability to protect the data it collects from falling into the hands of bad actors, ABC7 New York reports. 

The funds have gone toward building a cybersecurity joint operations center in Brooklyn that will service the areas of Albany, New York, Buffalo, Yonkers, Syracuse and Rochester, Emerging Tech Brew reports. 

In related data privacy news, in July, ForgeRock, a global digital identity company, revealed in its 2022 ForgeRock Consumer Identity Breach Report that the United States was the most expensive place in the world to recover from a data breach. 

Are you concerned with the possibility of a city not doing enough to protect the data it collects? Let us know in the comments!

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