Integrating cyber into new construction and commissioning across asset classes

According to the majority, the phrase ‘smart building’ first appeared in the early 2000s. This was about the time that building control systems (BCS) were being connected to the Internet – but others believe it happened as early as the late 1970s. In the 1980s smart buildings were first referred to as intelligent buildings. In actuality, the first smart building came into existence many years before. The primary objectives of smart buildings are to make systems open to other systems and to make external connections for staff, service providers and analytic companies to help service and maintain these systems without impediment. In doing so, they have created a company’s largest attack surface. To help reduce this attack surface, new construction must be designed with cyber security controls. It is less expensive and easier to implement at this point. But this is only half of the equation. Post implementation, the system must also be checked to ensure that all cyber security controls have been properly configured using cyber commissioning.