What Cyberattacks Mean for Commercial Buildings
When supermarket refrigerators in France switched into defrost mode after a cyberattack, store teams had to deal with spoiled food and interrupted operations. BOMA on the Frontline covered the incident in October. NPR now reports that a new wave of attacks affected supermarkets in at least six more European countries. Read our October coverage and NPR’s follow-up report.
For commercial property teams, the headline brings up a familiar problem. When equipment stops working, someone has to keep the building running while the cause is investigated. If an HVAC controller stops responding, tenants may lose cooling while engineering and the service provider work out what happened. If a visitor management system goes offline, the front desk needs another way to check people in.
What would your team do first?
Start with one system your building depends on and walk through what would happen if it stopped working during a busy day. Then bring these questions to your next conversation with your service provider.
What can our team still operate if the system goes offline? Ask the provider to walk your staff through the backup procedure and identify who can put it into effect.
Who is responsible after installation? Find out who monitors the system, applies updates, and responds when equipment behaves unexpectedly. Ask how your team will be notified and who to call after hours.
Which equipment should we plan to replace? Ask which controllers or devices are nearing the end of vendor support and what it would take to upgrade them. That gives you a starting point for the next capital budget.
Those conversations can also help you decide where new technology would make a difference for tenants. If visitors regularly wait in the lobby or after-hours HVAC requests take several calls to resolve, start with that everyday problem. Ask how a proposed tool would fit into the building’s existing systems and who would keep it running.
Bring your building questions on November 17
At BOMA/GLA’s How Technology Can Improve Building Operations and Tenants’ Experience, Marc Gittleman of 5x5 Telecom will moderate a discussion on connectivity and building technology. Mike Maxsenti of Genea will discuss access and visitor management, Jason Campos of Kilroy Realty will share how ownership evaluates and budgets for technology, and Matt McLaughlin of Montgomery Technologies will cover how new tools fit into existing building infrastructure.
Bring the questions you need answered about your building. Leave better prepared to ask your providers for clear answers and concrete next steps.
Tuesday, November 17 | 8:30–10:00 a.m. | 1Cal Plaza, Downtown Los Angeles
