Smart City (SC) is an upcoming concept incorporating ‘Digitalized Associated City’ and city organization with the help of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This novel concept offers in-depth knowledge by enhancing the nuances of the networking business and acts as a bridge between the Government, corporate, and the general public. When it comes to Cybersecurity deals with the confidentiality of the information and the vulnerabilities they come with SC systems. In our research paper, we investigate the security concerns of the SC infrastructure development and also taking into account the views of both technological and business operations. We also put forth a Hybrid Smart City Cyber Security Architecture (HSCCA) method. This method analyzes the threats besides developing safe data. We make sure to consider the important factors like valuable data collection, memory storage, recovery, and well-organized network source supply high-level HSCCA for setting up a smart city. The HSCCA setup recommended by us follows a layered presentation of storing data and explains about various participants that covey and also ensures service delivery to the end-users. Our suggested method also investigates Cyber Security (CS) instituted for smart cities. Besides, we also highlight the specific features of SC generated challenges regarding cybersecurity, along with the reviewing of various aspects of risks associated with it. Eventually, our research concludes with the evaluation of certain significant cybersecurity solutions for smart cities proposed for HSCCA. This paper recommends a context-specific safety setup for conventional cyber–physical systems and put forth a few prospective areas for exploring and their impact. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.