I read an interesting article the other day about "smart buildings". The concept is not new but recent advances have made it even easier to cost-effectively implement systems that allow more efficient control and even provisioning within these buildings. The article stated ROI within 2 years.
Being a self-confessed geek I loved this thought. Think of remote management of building control systems, whether power, water, alarm, heat/cooling, entry, etc. The operational benefits are huge and potential reduction in personnel costs, or automation is great.
Being a security guy the personal alarms were going off since this article did not speak of the need for effective security management. When I think of M2M the first thing that comes to mind is strong identification and authorization of systems and secure channels to protect from alteration of data in transit. The possibility of abuse without effective controls is significant and dependent on the tenancy of the building the risk will vary greatly.
So yes I love the idea of smart buildings using M2M to improve the operational and cost-effectiveness but please ensure you think about the security implications in the context of the business drivers before you start.
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