The increasing need and implementation of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in urban infrastructure have led to greater attention in smart cities. Smart cities make use of ICTs to enhance: the quality of life of citizens by paving the way to improve local economy, enhance transport system and transport management thereby providing conducive environment to build strong relationships together with public authorities. The assiduous goal of a smart cities is to improve the quality of life and services of citizens. Nevertheless, the instigation of ICTs has raised various issues pertaining to privacy and security issues concerned with smart cities and the inhabitants residing in them. The current research is an effort to present briefly the core concepts of security and privacy issues concerning to the smart cities and reveal cyber-attacks that were recent targeting smart cities based on current literature. Further, this research has elaborated and identified numerous security weaknesses and privacy challenges pertaining to various cyber security, the issues, challenges and recommendations in order to provide future directions.