Cyber security challenges and vulnerability assessment in the construction industry

The construction industry is making a shift towards digitization and automation (known as Construction 4.0) due to the rapid growth of information and communication technologies as well as 3D printing, mechatronics, machine learning, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies will transform the design, planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the civil infrastructure systems, with a positive impact on the overall project time, cost, quality, and productivity. These new technologies will also make the industry more connected, and the consideration of cybersecurity of paramount importance. Although many studies have proposed frameworks and methodologies to develop such technologies, investigation of cybersecurity implications and related challenges have received very less attention. Some work has focused on security-minded BIM, but it lacks generality or does not consider an approach to determine the vulnerability of the different project participants, construction processes, and products involved during the different phases of construction projects. To address these limitations, this study a) develops a framework to identify cybersecurity risks in the construction industry, and b) assesses the vulnerability of traditional and hybrid delivery methods based on an agent based model (ABM). That is, the vulnerability of different project participants and construction entities during the different phases of the life-cycle of construction projects as a consequence of Construction 4.0. The findings from this study help to identify potential risks and provide a basis to assess the impact of interactions in a digital environment among different project participants. Future work aims to thoroughly investigate the proposed ABM approach and extend the same to other project delivery methods and information exchange networks in construction projects.