From Cyber Threats to Natural Disasters: Ensuring Continuity in Smart Cities—Peer-to-Peer Data Mesh for Edge Computing
- Patricia Friar
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
As cities evolve into “smart cities” by integrating advanced technology into infrastructure, transportation, energy grids and public services, they promise unprecedented efficiency, convenience, connectivity and improved standard of living. But this connectivity brings a growing spectrum of risks, from cyberattacks to the disruptive force of natural disasters.
I’ve experienced both in my home city of Austin; In 2024, a ransomware type of cyberattack struck the Ascension Seton healthcare system, disrupting operations for a time. During that period, while I was receiving a guided aspiration on my injured thumb the technician explained she had not received an expected x-ray yet for the procedure and that medical record-sharing had reverted to the manual signatures and paper orders of the mid-1980s within the Ascension Seton healthcare network. The problem, she noted, was that most current healthcare providers hadn’t even been through medical school by 1985. As a result, records, lab results, x-rays, CAT scans, and other essential information were taking days to shuffle from one provider to the next in the chain of care. My thumb was minor to what a cardiac patient might face as a result of this ransomware debacle.
In addition to the impact delayed lab reports had on timely patient treatment, nearly 5.6 million people’s personal, financial and government identification info, including Social Security Numbers, were breached. A class-action lawsuit has been allowed to move forward against Ascension, and STAT10 reported that the attack cost Ascension an estimated $1.3 billion.
Everyone has heard about the historic and devastating "Winter Storm Uri" in February 2021, which had cascading effects across Texas cutting off electricity to nearly 5 million customers, and is the costliest natural disaster in the state's history. My household, along with most of Austin, was without electricity and heat for several days, then without water for several days while roads were impassable and temperatures were well below freezing. We’ve had ice storms since, which caused electric outages, not to the extent of 2021, but the problem is not yet resolved.
Ensuring continuity in smart cities means preparing for both cyber threats and physical disasters.
The Dual Threat Landscape
Smart cities rely on Operational Technology[i] (OT) and Internet of Things[ii] (IoT) devices to manage everything from traffic signals to water treatment facilities. While these systems improve urban life, they also present attractive targets for cybercriminals and state-sponsored attackers. For example, ransomware or malware could paralyze service from traffic control to energy distribution, causing cascading disruptions across essential services.
At the same time, natural disasters—hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or wildfires—or physical attacks, can physically damage infrastructure, disrupting digital data flows the city depends upon and and leaving residents without essential services. Unlike traditional cities, smart cities face the added challenge of ensuring the resilience of highly interdependent systems.
Building Resilience Through Technology: Peer-to-Peer Data Mesh for Edge Computing
To ensure continuity, cities must adopt a layered approach that addresses both cyber and physical threats (natural or manmade). In the ideal world smart cities would include redundant systems, power, communication and control systems to ensure delivery of critical services even when a key service center or node fails. Predictive Analytics and Digital Twins can help by simulating city operations in real-time so urban planners can anticipate risks, identify gaps and optimize responses for cyber and natural events. Government agencies, private utilities and emergency responders must coordinate continuously. To do this, these organizations will need to develop integrated response plans and share a common operating picture. A peer-to-peer data mesh for edge computing should be part of this plan.
All of this relies on data, not only in the moment when disaster strikes, but also in the building and training of the predictive analytics models used to develop the failsafe systems, the response plans and to tactically execute. For this smart cities need Secure Data Meshes: decentralized data architectures that allow smart city systems to gather and share critical information securely to develop and train the models, and when disaster strikes, to ensure data gets where it is needed, when it is needed, securely and with integrity, to deliver essential city services. With a secure resilient data mesh such as AmiShare, single points of failure are eliminated and data flows remain resilient even when networks may be unstable.
Lessons from Pilot Programs
Recent initiatives, such as Kinnami’s critical infrastructure project with the University of Nebraska, University of New Hampshire and the Army Corp of Engineers, work to demonstrate how resilient smart city frameworks can function in practice. By testing secure autonomous data transport in harsh environments, these programs highlight the importance of designing systems that maintain operations under digital or physical attacks or environmental stress.
Smart cities promise safer, more efficient, and more connected communities. But without resilient infrastructure, a single cyber incident or natural disaster could cascade into a citywide crisis. By prioritizing secure data architectures, redundancy, and coordinated response planning, cities can ensure continuity, protect residents, and make the smart city vision a sustainable reality.
As urban areas continue to digitize, one lesson is clear: resilience is not optional—it’s foundational for a truly smart city. Kinnami is actively engaging with partners on pilot projects to advance infrastructure resilience. If you would like to discuss a potential project or technology that may be applied in a joint project, please reach out.
Kinnami is proud to be named a "Top 50" company is the 2025 QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge.
[i] Hardware and Software that monitors and controls physical devices, processes and event s in industrial and critical infrastructure settings.
[ii] The interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.
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