A recent government review of the real estate occupied by U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies found that many offices are leased in buildings that are owned by firms in China and other nations. In many cases, U.S. General Services Administration investigators weren’t able to identify the buildings’ owners.
With smart buildings, and the IoT, that leaves these tenants at risk of hacking and other forms of cyber intrusions, as reported in a recent CNN article.
“The General Services Administration, which handles leasing for many federal agencies, is renting space in 20 buildings from foreign owners – and its investigators were unable to identify who the property owners were for about one-third of the government’s more than 1,400 high-security leases. Nine of the 14 agencies the GAO contacted were unaware the building space they were using was foreign owned,” according to the piece.
Obviously this has implications for the corporate real estate profession. Are there cases where corporate tenants aren’t sure who owns the buildings in which they lease space? If so, what steps need to be taken?
Please share your thoughts…