NEW YORK CITY—“You can never do enough, but New York is betterprepared than any city that I'm aware of,” RaymondKelly, former New York City policecommissioner and now president of risk managementservices at Cushman & Wakefield, saidat RealShare New York. Yet amid the rise ofISIS to prominence on the global stage and withsome 16 terrorist plots against the city foiled since 9/11, NewYork remains a target and will be one for a long time, Kelly saidduring a one-on-one interview with Michael G.Desiato, vice president and group publisher ofALM's Real Estate Media Group.

While the possibility of a physical act of terror is cause forconcern on its own, it's hardly the only risk that commercial realestate needs to manage. As the hacking incidents at Target andJPMorgan Chase have illustrated, cybersecurity hasbecome “a major challenge,” Kelly told the 300-plus industryprofessionals gathered at the Roosevelt Hotel on Thursday. In thecase of the JPMorgan cyberattack that affected some 76 millionpersonal and business accounts, some experts have speculated that“it was just a shot across the bow.”

While so-called “hacktivists” who are motivated by their ownagendas represent one avenue of cybercrime, the sheer quantity ofmalware on the Web means that the issue is more widespread thanthat. Some hackers commit the online equivalent of breaking andentering just for the fun of it, and Kelly pointed out, “A lot ofintrusions are the result of carelessness on the part ofemployees.”