Caden Reidy

11/12/2025

200T

Mrs. Duvall

The Threats SCADA Fixes

BLUF: Critical infrastructure systems have vulnerabilities like, Physical security, Unwanted users gaining control to certain applications, and network based attacks. But SCADA applications mitigate these with alarm systems, PCLs, and constant patches.

Critical applications and infrastructure like water systems or electrical grids can be attacked from within. A disgruntled employee or others can damage a system that hundreds of thousands of people rely on everyday. Or a digital attack that damages a piece of equipment so people have to come out and fix it. Next is Unwanted users that are able to gain control over a system. Breaches that use things like malware, phishing, or exploiting an unguarded access spot could be one of the causes that allow someone to break into a critical infrastructure’s system. Lastly is network based attacks, some devices used by these systems could be old or unprotected in certain cases. They may not be updated with the most recent patches, or people are unwilling to spend money on important upgrades and updates that may have helped. “According to the report from cybersecurity firm KnowBe4, the number of weak points in that network is increasing by 60 per day, with the total count rising from 21,000 in 2022 to an estimated 23,000-24,000 at present.” (Refna Tharayil August 27, 2024)

  SCADA systems, while may not be perfect in solving every issue a system has, can mitigate a large amount of issues that most systems have. With alarm systems, the system will tell people of need when something is happening. When a system is breached SCADA will tell people what is breached and what to fix. “SCADA protocols have been designed to be extremely compact and to send information to the master station only when the RTU is polled by the master station.” (SCADA systems, pg. 5). SCADA also comes with PCLs which with these they can disrupt a breach on the network. They will also lower the damages that would occur in case the network is down. They would be able to stop attackers from reaching centralized networks in the infrastructure and contain breaches. Lastly the SCADA would release constant patches to the system. This makes it harder for people wishing to break in, to find a vulnerability in the system. It would also deal with large-scale breaches that were discovered in earlier days.    

Conclusion: A SCADA system can make a large impact on critical infrastructure being able to stop or mitigate issues like, Physical security, Unwanted users, and network based breaches. The way it does this is with an alarm system to alert on the easiest notice, PCLs, and constant patches or updates to system software and hardware.