Brennan Hollowell 11/02/2023

Vulnerabilities

The SCADA system stands for supervisory control and data acquisition. What SCADA does is they regulate infrastructure, industrial, and faculty based processes. SCADA works closely with those processes and controls them to make sure everything is running smoothly and that they don’t run into any issues and also regulates the data from the equipment. They are very good things to have in any sort of these processes but they are like everything it comes with a few vulnerabilities. One vulnerability that I could see is the human machine interface so it could be possible for someone to hack into the system or even more to malfunction and cause problems for when the alarm should go off and shouldn’t. Like many things that deal with hardware there is always the possibility of a cyberattack and that is done by unauthorized usage of these systems. Also anyone that happens to send a packet access could in turn control the system. 

Risk Mitigation

These SCADA systems have many vulnerabilities which can make it difficult for the system to work properly. The good thing though is that there are ways in which to mitigate any risks to the system while it is not guaranteed to mitigate the risk it is very helpful in preventing it. The first thing that is used is firewalls and that can help keep out cybercriminals from accessing any of the data and disrupting the systems. Another thing that is being implemented is whitelisting solutions that help prevent and application changes that are unauthorized from happening. SCADA does have supervisory stations in case these systems do not fully account for the risk and these stations can be used as a recovery station of the data. 

Conclusion

The job of the SCADA systems is extremely important from many things in our society today. SCADA provides a lot, not just infrastructure, industrial, and facilities, it is needed for so much more. If the systems are not secured it can cause a lot of problems not just for companies but even the average person. It also controls physical processes and monitors the process even small things like traffic lights are controlled by SCADA. Society needs these systems for so many things in all of our daily lives. There are many vulnerabilities but the good thing is that there are many watts in which those vulnerabilities can be mitigated. 

Sources: 

SCADA systems. SCADA Systems. (n.d.). https://www.scadasystems.net/