Engineering Inc. - September/October 2019 - 36

"It is not hard to understand that as our digital footprint grows
and expands, so do the risks and challenges of safeguarding
that information from unauthorized uses or sharing."
TERRY D. BENNETT
OWNER AND CHIEF INNOVATION STRATEGIST
INFRA FORESIGHT CONSULTING

we may have a way to improve and modernize capability while
New technologies can also bring a host of challenges for firms.
increasing security at the same time."
"One of the biggest challenges in adopting technology is to
"As multiple technologies are being connected with each
find a way to recover the cost of the investment," Weidner says.
other, we are seeing the potential for really cool things or
"Clients often expect advancements to lower
really bad things," Stanger says. "The really
the cost of the product, yet that is a reverse
cool things include the ability to gather
incentive for the industry to be creative
data and process it into information more
and evolve the way it delivers infrastructure
quickly than ever before. The really bad
projects."
things involve a lot of questionable IT
Infrastructure is increasingly linked to
and development practices where multiple
technology, and due to the proliferation
systems are connected in suspect ways."
of connectivity technologies such as IoT
Ways to address these issues as well as
and 5G, almost everything we design today
cybersecurity concerns include taking true
is part of a large technological system,
control of the software development cycle
according to Weidner.
to connect technologies properly; using
"Consumer expectations around simplicity
multifactor and two-factor authentication
and ease of use set us up with a difficult
more efficiently for cloud and mobile
task: to assist our clients in the discovery and
services; and continuous network
understanding of how complex information
monitoring, according to Stanger.
solutions can help them better manage their
Despite any challenges that might arise,
businesses, assets, and citizen or customer
firms need to be diligent about staying on
relationships," he says.
top of the latest technology developments.
Protecting systems and data against
"Given these technology and process
cybersecurity threats is a major concern
disruptions and the power they deliver
of firms adopting newer technologies.
at our fingertips-at both the industry
Trends such as the rise of cloud computing,
and practitioner level-we must start
mobile devices and apps in the workplace and the growth of
thinking about how we will do business in this era of constant
IoT are dramatically expanding attack surfaces of modern IT
disruption," says Bennett. ■
infrastructure. This makes it more difficult than ever for IT and
Bob Violino is a business and technology writer based in Massapequa
security leaders at firms to secure the infrastructure.
Park, New York.
"It is not hard to understand that as our
digital footprint grows and expands, so do
Pre-construction aerial footage, captured from
the risks and challenges of safeguarding
a drone, of the I-24/I-124 interchange where
that information from unauthorized uses or
improvements are currently underway on I-124
through downtown Chattanooga. As one of the
sharing," Bennett says. "Every data file or
largest projects for the Tennessee Department of
device becomes a potential entry point that
Transportation, Volkert is providing construction
engineering and inspection services for the
could be exploited."
interstate and bridge improvements.
With the emergence of 5G networks,
new cloud and virtualization technologies
such as software-defined networking and
network function virtualization is taking
place, according to Bennett.
"Due to their open nature, it could create
more security concerns," he adds. "If focus
is placed on the security of 5G systems as
they are rolled out, such as leveraging the
use of blockchains as part of the solution,
ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

COURTESY OF VOLKERT, INC.

The new 5G
generation of
wireless data
services is
expected to have
10 times less
data latency, 50
times more
speed in transfer
and 1,000
times more
capacity than
4G/LTE

36

ENGINEERING INC.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019
Engineering Inc. - September/October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - September/October 2019
