430 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications This applies to the network and server environments, as well as to the endpoints (i.e. the individual terminals), in‐house or mobile. Cybersecurity includes software tools, processes and people as key components of a successful implementation of the discipline. c. Data protection This notion refers to the tools and processes used to store data relevant to a certain ICT system or environment, as well as recover lost data in case of an incident – be it fraudulent, accidental or caused by a natural disaster. One critical element about data is the concept of data ownership, which refers to who is in charge of data, who can authorize or deny access to certain data, and is responsible for its accuracy and integrity, in particular personally identifiable information (PII) . This aspect is expanded in the FG‐SSC Technical Report on “Anonymization infrastructure and open data for smart sustainable cities”5. These definitions provide the basis for the analysis presented in subsequent sections of this Technical Report. As the analysis will demonstrate, their consideration and effective integration as part of SSC strategies is crucial to ensure the continuity of service provision in situations of shocks or stress, but equally important, to ensure high standards of quality, trust and reliability on ICT infrastructures and services, all required for SSC to succeed. 3 ICT implications in smart sustainable cities The underlying nature of smart sustainable cities involves systems and objects interconnected through various technologies. The IoT is a key element of SSC developments and refers to devices with embedded technology (e.g. sensors), and/or with Internet protocol (IP) addresses, able to be reached and exchange information, for example, in an intelligent transportation system. The amount of data generated by these technologies can reach a considerable size. Big data will need to be appropriately and centrally stored, managed, analysed, and protected. The city operation's center will supervise the interaction between systems and will have to ensure continuity, integrity and resilience. With time, the interconnected and interdependent services of smart cities will evolve under a centralized governance dashboard of specialized stakeholders, responsible for setting policies and processes, managing ICT assets, services and protocols, and ultimately administering the services for constituents. ICT control and management capabilities will be crucial in order to guarantee an efficient, secure and resilient governance and delivery. Strategic information technology (IT) trends like virtualization, cloud and mobile, are cornerstones of operational effectiveness and efficiency. At the same time, business‐critical IT applications are increasingly running on virtualized servers, while cloud services are expanding into core exploration and production processes. 5 FG‐SSC deliverable, Technical Report on anonymization infrastructure and open data for smart sustainable cities. Available at http://www.itu.int/en/ITU‐T/focusgroups/ssc/Pages/default.aspx.