CLOUD: BIGGER IS BETTER Many Central Management Systems (CMS) rely on external clouds such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud or Amazon Web Services. There is an ongoing debate in the infrastructure sector about what is more secure: on-premises servers, or a cloud-based solution. The common misconception is that lighting providers, such as cities, can better protect an on-premises application than one hosted in the cloud. Ask yourself: who can afford better security? Who can afford an international team of people to maintain servers and update security protocols? Cloud systems sound less secure to the average person, but the reason that cloud infrastructure has grown exponentially over the years is due to the security measures in place. Companies like Microsoft protect their Azure servers with top-of-the-line cybersecurity, ensuring that customers hosting their platforms are in the most secure environment imaginable. Just one example: Azure’s servers analyse 8 trillion threat signals daily. Schréder EXEDRA is based on Microsoft Azure and makes the most of Microsoft’s cloud security. We can accommodate the deployment of our cloud-based platform to comply with specific local requirements/policies aiming to reinforce security and/or data privacy. A NOTE ABOUT NODES The cloud may keep data secure, but it is not the whole system. The edge of the control system is the node. This is your communication device that gives you control over the light and feeds information back to your software to allow you to better manage the asset. The node might be cellular, talking directly to your system, or in a mesh configuration where a group of nodes send information through a cellular node close by. Regardless of the configuration, wireless communication is the first vulnerability to note. “Sniffing” attacks are where the flow of wireless data is intercepted and the hacker can gain access to devices or a network to control part of your lighting system. The industry has countered this by encrypting these devices. The most common encryption is 128-bit, and although 256-bit is possible, the trade-off in power consumption for greater encryption is unnecessary. Similar to other IoT devices, firmware updates are a regular occurrence. This allows the manufacturer to update security protocols as they become aware of vulnerabilities or changes in technology. The Schréder EXEDRA solution safeguards security from one end to the other, applying secure policies and rules on each layer of the solution: device, communication, data, and the app used by the customer to control the CMS.
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