Prof. Muhammad Khurram Khan Speaks on Smart Cities at the 21st National Computer Conference
Prof. Muhammad Khurram Khan of CoEIA delivered a talk titled "Smart Cities in Cyberspace: Challenges and Solutions" at the 21st National Computer Conference in Riyadh.
The Saudi Computer Society organized the 21st National Computer Conference on 25 and 26 April 2018 under the patronage of H.E. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology. The event was co-sponsored by Saudi Telecom Company, NEC and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a US-based professional association with more than 400,000 members worldwide. The conference proceedings were published by IEEE, and selected papers will be considered for later publication.
The conference aimed to give local and international researchers a platform to share ideas across computing and information technology. It received a large number of papers from many countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Canada, India, Bangladesh and Sudan, and covered topics such as cybersecurity, networks and communications, software engineering, wireless networks, social media and cloud computing.
Prof. Muhammad Khurram Khan, professor of cybersecurity at the Center of Excellence in Information Assurance (CoEIA), King Saud University, delivered a talk titled "Smart Cities in Cyberspace: Challenges and Solutions". He discussed emerging technologies that promise to shape the future of smart cities by harnessing information and communication technologies to address the challenges of urbanization and improve residents' quality of life.
He noted that Saudi Arabia, in pursuit of Vision 2030, has begun building modern and advanced smart cities, most notably NEOM with an investment of USD 500 billion. Technologies such as cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, blockchain and big data can deliver valuable services to all stakeholders in areas including the environment, transport, healthcare, tourism, mobility, energy management, and safety and security.
He added that the growing interconnection of smart cities can expose them to a variety of cybersecurity risks that threaten city operations and residents' lives, citing the city of Atlanta in the United States, which was recently hit by a ransomware attack that paralyzed its operations. He urged stakeholders to treat cybersecurity as a top priority, and closed by presenting some of his research contributions to smart city cybersecurity and future directions in the field.
The conference was held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Kingdom Tower, and hosted more than 140 speakers, including students, academics, researchers, professionals and scientists.
