The primary goal of this research paper is to build public awareness about exposed cyber assets and
highlight problems and issues associated with their exposure. We dene “exposed cyber assets” as
Internet-connected devices and systems that are discoverable on Shodan or similar search engines
and can be accessed via the public Internet.
Several research papers and conference talks have been published and presented that explore these
problems and issues, but in this paper, we studied exposed cyber assets from the macroscopic
perspective of cities. We proled exposed cyber assets in critical sectors that are integral to the daily
functioning of cities (i.e., government, emergency, healthcare, utilities, nancial services, and education
sectors). We also proled exposed industrial control systems (ICS) that are used to control operations
such as building automation, trafc system management, manufacturing processes, power generation,
and so on.
Some of the highlights from our research are:
• In the emergency services sector, Houston, Texas and Lafayette, Louisiana had the highest number
of exposed cyber assets.
• In the nancial services sector, New York City, the nancial hub of the US, had the highest number
of exposed cyber assets.
• In the utilities sector, exposed cyber assets are mostly located in small cities and towns; not in big
cities.
• In the education sector, there are a lot of exposed cyber assets; Philadelphia alone had more than
65,000 exposed devices.
We found that the top 4 exposed ICS protocols were MODBUS®, BACnet, EtherNet/IP, and Tridium
Fox. We also found screenshots of exposed Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) used in industrial
environments, some of which were outside the US. The exposed cyber assets proled in this research
are critical to the daily functioning of cities and can impact many if not all residents. This is a follow-up
research to “Exposed US Cities in Shodan”
1
where we proled “all manners of” exposed cyber assets
in the top 10 US cities by population.
With the proliferation of cyberterrorism by rogue nations and terrorist groups, exposed cyber assets
pose serious threats to both national security and the daily functioning of cities. Important questions
that need answers include “Who is responsible for safeguarding and policing exposed cyber assets?”;
“And how?”; and “What awareness campaigns do we run to better protect city cyber infrastructure?”
In this paper, we will also provide some helpful security guidelines to protect critical infrastructure
networks.
DISCLAIMER: At no point during this research did we perform any scanning or attempt to access any of the Internet-connected devices and
systems. All published data, including screenshots, were collected via Shodan. Note that any mention of brands in this research does not suggest
any issue with the related products but only that they are searchable in Shodan.
As the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes the new norm, enterprises are taking advantage of the speed, convenience, and richness of data offered by
Internet-connected devices, from simple smart light controllers to machine-to-machine communication and automation technologies. This enables
different organizations, including industrial environments, to identify problems and inefciencies sooner and streamline processes, which in turn
allows them to deliver faster and better services. But, truth be told, today’s society is adopting connected technologies at a faster rate than we are
able to secure them. Caution dictates that in addition to exploring new opportunities with IoT, we also examine the implications and repercussions
of an all-devices-online world. There is a strong likelihood that some of the Internet-connected devices and systems running daily operations may
be inadvertently exposing sensitive information, which could potentially jeopardize everyone’s safety and security.