We are heading towards a future with smart buildings that will have smart access systems and also smart systems for controlling anything inside like the lights, heat, water, temperature, appliances, self-cleaning etc.

However, as the buildings will get smarter so does the danger of hacking the system. The developers of such software will have to be very keen on keeping their security standards up.

For example, one of the first buildings hacked was one of Google’s, in 2013. Two cyber security experts hacked into its Wharf 7 office in Sydney, Australia, through Google’s building management system (BMS). One of them, Billy Rios, says: “Me and my colleague have a lot of experience in cyber security, but it is not something that people couldn’t learn. Once you understand how the systems work, it is very simple.”

Fortunately, the hacker’s attack on the Google building was of friendly nature. Nothing was damaged or stolen. Even though since the Google incident, many other buildings got hacked, there is no record yet of notable damage. However, this doesn’t mean that the security of the buildings can be vulnerable for hacker attacks. Imagine what would happen if such vulnerabilities would be accessible to hackers when trying to make a breach in a hospital system and drop the temperature to 0 putting lives in danger. Or to access a system from a bank and get in control of the door or alarm system.

Martyn Thomas, a professor of IT at Gresham College in the UK, tells the BBC: “It is beyond doubt that attempts to attack building management systems are happening all the time.” Making a building smart generally means connecting the systems that control heating, lighting and security to the internet and the wider corporate network.

He recommends these smart systems are kept entirely separate from corporate networks because it is virtually impossible to ensure the code behind them is hacker-proof.