Cristina Patterson
June 17, 2025
SCADA in Critical Infrastructure
SCADA systems play a critical role in managing critical systems like wastewater management, power grids, wind farms, and gas pipelines. These systems create visibility into data that may otherwise be too cumbersome to access in scenarios where the data needs to be interpreted quickly. SCADA can produce real time reporting and empower rapid response times.
Vulnerabilities in Infrastructure
There are several vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure today. Some include machine failures, employee mistakes, and slow response in crucial situations such as a cyber attack. SCADA can help mitigate those vulnerabilities by providing real time monitoring to help detect failures before they become critical. SCADA also allows the gathering of data that can be presented to operators in useful reports for trend analysis, strategy, and identifying security breaches when they happen. These systems can also be utilized to respond to a threat or failure remotely, reducing response time and eliminating the need for an actual operator to respond on the scene in some cases.
Ukrain’s Power Grid Hack
In 2015 three Ukrainian electric companies were hacked causing huge power outages. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (2016) details how the attackers remotely opened breakers across at least 27 substations. This outage impacted 225,000 customers. This is an example of how a SCADA can also be exploited and led to an outage that impacted hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. Because the hackers did not need to physically access the power grid, they were able to create a large scale blackout remotely.
Conclusion
In conclusion, SCADA allows for remote monitoring and controlling of important systems. But if those systems are not accurately secured, those same systems can be leveraged against their agency. It is important that public works invest in their cybersecurity to mitigate these types of risks.
References
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. (2016, February 25) IR-ALERT-H-16-056-01: Cyber-attack against Ukrainian critical infrastructure. CISA. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-alerts/ir-alert-h-16-056-01