In the last few years, the rapid growth of green tech and renewable energy was boosted by government investments and increasing tax credits. The growth in demand has led to huge pressure on organizations developing the green technologies. On one hand, they have to put a lot of resources on research and development of new products to limit emissions and comply with regulations. On the other hand, they have to build security into the foundation; Unfortunately, 53% of businesses do not take cyber security into account before the development phase and only consider it later during or after development. It might be too late because that could lead to serious damages to the companies as well as consumers.
This shouldn’t be neglected because renewable technologies are plugged into existing national critical infrastructure, so the new digital and physical vulnerabilities are exposed to hackers. We absolutely don’t want to give these hackers the access to entire networks of commercial and consumer green products. The organizations should deepen knowledge and competences in order to understand how it is possible to lower the environmental impact and address those vulnerabilities at the same time, from both a business and personal point of view.
From the aspect of consumers, we all are trying to live an eco-friendlier life and transform to greener products. I myself try to reduce the carbon footprint by using as many used or refurbished products as possible, installing smart thermostats to control and reduce energy use, using smart power strips to optimize and conserve power, using a smart sprinkler system to reduce home’s water consumption, and using smart bulbs with motion sensors that can shut down automatically when the room is unoccupied. If you are interested in more of those green devices, you can check out this eco-friendly tech guide. Once you install those devices, you should immediately find ways to protect your security and privacy online. In recent years, Internet-connected devices have become a honey pot for cyber criminals. As the devices are more affordable and well-adopted, they are collecting more data than ever and this is too attractive for hackers. Consumers are facing a lot of digital threats and a cybersecurity software might come helpful because it can connect those devices securely. After setting up such software on your router, your data is encrypted when passing through the special channels and might become untraceable to hackers who are trying to steal private information.
Climate transformation seems to be irrelevant to security but when we have a closer look, you can find out that it actually has profound implications. Security by design in new technologies is very important to keep the systems running smoothly and safely. Do not take climate transformation as an excuse for greater vulnerability because companies building security into their products from the start will be in a more competitive and resilient position. That is the only way to truly achieve a greener future.
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