Entry Date:
February 23, 2017

Improving the Adoption of Smart Lighting Infrastructure: Understanding and Mitigating the Impacts of Cybersecurity

Principal Investigator Michael Siegel

Co-investigator Stuart Madnick


his project proposes to examine the cybersecurity concerns of consumers, businesses and industries related to the adoption of smart lighting technologies. Equally important to addressing these concerns, will be preparing for and responding to incidents that can impact future smart lighting adoption. The team proposes to address these issues by developing research solutions to identify and resolve cybersecurity impacts of adoption, using tools such as simulation modeling, survey data and data analytics, and scenarios analysis. The rising demand for smart lighting infrastructure requires undertaking ‘technological’ innovations. Consequently, cybersecurity is a critical issue as the industry faces growing cyber risks. Smart lighting technologies open up more connections to the Internet. While enhanced features are introduced, the networked systems become increasingly complex and more vulnerable, which increases the possibility of cyber incidents. Other complications are added with the Internet of Things, where intelligent devices are connected, as sensors and/or controllers. In fact, not only are vulnerabilities on the rise, but they also have the potential of becoming more sophisticated, given the unknown characteristics of new lighting technologies.