Cyber Security and Energy Efficiency in the Infrastructures of Smart Societies

Abstract

This dissertation examines architectures in smart cities and smart societies and also analyses the communications systems security, cyber security and energy efficiency of infrastructures, digital information systems and services, and underwater optical cable systems. The study also develops models for calculating the probabilities of cyber threats to these entities. This study first examines how digitalisation affects society and the daily lives of its citizens, its various services, and the environment. Our societies’ digital services even now are available anytime and anywhere, in real time. The changes brought about by digitalisation of the various services available in our daily lives have a large impact on society and the lives of its citizens. To take full advantage of the services offered by digitalisation, people must be able to use secure smart devices and communication systems to use the services. However, there is a need to examine how we can improve and provide these services securely, anytime and anywhere in real time, and determine how the current services will work with future information systems and service structures. Security and cyber security threats must be taken into account when providing and developing these services because these services and infrastructures are subject to ubiquitous security and cyber security threats on a daily basis. Natural threats and risks also have an occasional impact on the availability and continuity of services, especially in the Arctic region. This dissertation introduces a single user device concept designed to reduce and prevent the impact of potential network threats and cyber-attacks in future environments and services. As the number of available services and the energy consumption of different systems increase exponentially, the volumes of harmful greenhouse gases that are often transported directly into the air also increase exponentially. More attention must therefore be given to the root causes of climate change and, in particular, to services with a high energy consumption. Despite discussing digitalisation and its importance in our services, the effects of digitalisation on the growth of energy consumption and its consequences are not sufficiently taken into account in our societies. Thus, we consider whether it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of services and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When building new ecosystems or improving existing solutions and structures, cost-effectiveness needs to be considered and improved to improve operational efficiency across all sectors. Keywords: smart cities, smart society, energy consumptions, risks, threats, cyberattacks, climate change, greenhouse gases.