CC3001

TECHNOLOGY focus
Building better security
David Chadwick discusses the issue of security in the cloud and the construction industry in
general with Steve Cooper of Aconex
How secure is the cloud when the
weakest link is, inevitably, the
user? I recently discussed this
topic with Steve Cooper, general
manager, UK & Ireland at Aconex.
Security of data is becoming a major
issue, not just in the construction
industry but in all walks of life. I wanted
to find out what steps are being taken
to mitigate possible lapses in security
in an industry which is increasingly
reliant on sharing its rapidly growing
data files with its workforce across
multiple building sites.
"On the face of it," Steve said,
"systems in use throughout the industry
look pretty secure anyway - secure
servers, distributing password
protected documents to authorised
recipients - what could possibly go
wrong?" There are different degrees of
protection, though, and cyber criminals
are smart and becoming smarter. "If
there is a loophole in any system, they
will find and exploit it."
But what possible information could
they want from the construction
industry? Sub-contractors, site
managers, engineers and other team
members hardly seem like the typical
targets of cybercrime. However as
members of project teams they do
form part of a network, at one end of
which are the daily deliveries of
materials and equipment, and at the
other a financial system for controlling
large amounts of money. Between
these two points lie plenty of
opportunities for fraud, theft and
mismanagement.
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Aconex provides the most widely used
cloud and mobile project management
platform for the global construction
industry. Last year Aconex acquired
Conject, integrating its construction
management solutions with the Aconex
platform. Originally with Conject, Steve
Cooper explained the role that Aconex
plays in providing as secure an
environment as it can for its clients.
"First", he explained, "the scale of
Aconex, a listed public company,
allowed a significant, sustained
investment in security to protect its
customer and user communities. All
employees are required to take online
awareness and best practice courses
in all aspects of security." He also
stated that one of the big challenges
for customers is clarity about what they
are trying to protect.
"One of the biggest challenges that
Aconex faces from their clients", he
added, "is that individual organisations
are sometimes not very scrupulous
about their information, how to protect
it and the part it plays in a bigger
picture." When information from
multiple project partners across the
supply chain is brought together,
especially when operating with BIM, it
can become considerably more
sensitive and open to misuse.
Aconex, as custodian of their clients'
information, has put in place a highly
secure system of transmission,
requiring every transaction to have at
least two levels of security. Secure
socket layer encryption, encryption at
rest and two-factor authentication
(which operates using unique,
randomly generated codes) are each
becoming significantly more important
to Aconex customers.
In addition to that, customers are
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January/February 2017