ITcon Vol. 27, pg. 571-594, http://www.itcon.org/2022/28

Construction cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection: new horizons for Construction 4.0

DOI:10.36680/j.itcon.2022.028
submitted:November 2020
revised:December 2021
published:June 2022
editor(s):Amor R
authors:Borja García de Soto
Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
garcia.de.soto@nyu.edu

Alexandru Georgescu
National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics, Romania
alexandru.georgescu@ici.ro

Bharadwaj Mantha
Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
bmantha@nyu.edu

Žiga Turk
Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
ziga.turk@fgg.uni-lj.si

Abel Maciel
The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, UK
a.maciel@ucl.ac.uk

Muammer Semih Sonkor
Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
semih.sonkor@nyu.edu
summary:One of the key concepts of Construction 4.0 is cyber-physical systems. The construction industry is increasingly creating valuable digital assets, but it is also gradually using digital technology to plan, design, build, monitor, and control the physical ones. This makes construction sites and operations vulnerable to cyber-attacks. While the damage to digital assets can have financial implications, attacks on digitally-controlled physical assets may impact people’s well-being and, in worst-case scenarios, result in casualties. The problem is amplified by the emerging cyber-physical nature of the systems, where the human checks may be left out. The construction industry could draw inspiration from the work done in critical infrastructures (CI). Construction is the prelude of any socio-technical asset tagged as a CI. While most assets may not be critical in the CI sense, they are essential to a business’ operations and the people directly or indirectly associated with them. This study presents a literature review on the previous CI protection (CIP) efforts and construction cybersecurity studies to show their synergy. Recommendations based on well-established CIP processes to make construction more cyber-secure are provided. It is expected that this study will create awareness about cybersecurity practices within the construction industry. Ongoing work includes understanding where construction stands and developing a framework to address cybersecurity throughout the different project phases.
keywords:Construction 4.0, Digitalization, Critical Infrastructure, Cyber Security, Cyber-physical Systems, EPCIP
full text: (PDF file, 0.584 MB)
citation:García de Soto B, Georgescu A, Mantha B, Turk Ž, Maciel A, Sonkor M S (2022). Construction cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection: new horizons for Construction 4.0, ITcon Vol. 27, pg. 571-594, https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2022.028
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