BLUF
Supervisory control and data acquisition or SCADA refers to the industrial control
systems and is the practice of protecting this system using a common framework. These
processes usually refer to the modern industrial services such as water, natural gas, electricity
and transportation. Vulnerabilities associated with these systems can have a dramatic impact on
critical infrastructures because of how much we rely on these essential services and if attacked or
not protected could lead to dire consequences.
Vulnerabilities associated with critical infrastructure
systems
Critical infrastructure systems are services we use that important to our life, government,
business, etc. These services include healthcare systems, transportation, and power grids that
have moved over to a digital infrastructure to modernize which has opened up a whole new wave
of vulnerabilities to these systems. The areas most at risk, according to help net security, would
be the core infrastructures that are important to the people and economy of a country. Our very
way of life can be impacted since these critical systems are all things we use day to day, it could
even lead to the attacker gaining control over such systems which could have access to personal
information, banks, stocks, or more. These systems are like other online networks that are vulnerable to attack, however can be more vulnerable due to supply chain attacks because of how
much collateral damage can happen. Supply chain attacks is a type that a cyber attack targets the
trusted third party of the system and compromises that part, which eventually leads back to the
actual target system and causes as much damage as possible through every level they travel
through. This can be done through phishing, malware, and other related cyber attacks that can
leave technologies and networks vulnerable.
Role SCADA applications play in mitigating these risks
SCADA systems is one of the most common types of industrial control systems
(Forcepoint). SCADA stands for supervisory control and data acquisition networks is a common
framework of control systems used in modern industrial systems. These systems include water,
gas, electricity, transport. And more. Like any network system it is under constant threat from
bad actors in cyber-attacks that could bring down our critical infrastructures if it is not protected
well enough. SCADA systems are essentially the supervisor controls over everything that
happens in these critical infrastructures and should be used with the correct security to back it up
in case of attack. Any attack made to critical infrastructures can disrupt and cost our
infrastructure. So having this system helps process the data to be used by real-time terminals that
can protect these systems under the framework.
Conclusion
SCADA framework protects critical infrastructures by providing an outline and
supervision over controls that directly impact these systems. These systems like other networks
have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by bad actors to cause harm to our way of life since we
rely on these infrastructures. SCADA applications mitigate these risks because they provide insightful data to supervisory controls as a framework that can help to find the processes and
guide the system that coordinates or fixes these systems in real time to provide a more protected
network.
References:
The SCADA Systems article
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DvxnWUSLe27H5u8A6yyIS9Qz7BVt_8p2WeNHctGVbo
Y/edit?usp=sharing
Labus, Helga. The massive impact of vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.
HelpNetSecurity.com.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/15/critical-infrastructure-security/
What is SCADA Security. SCADA Network Security Defined and Explored. Forcepoint.com.
Retrieved November 5, 2023, from
https://www.forcepoint.com/cyber-edu/scada-security