Critical infrastructures have been around for a long time and are vital to the sustainability of how we live today. Due to their age and structure, they possess many vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities can be seen as attacks, threats, or natural disasters that as a result cause the systems to lose some level of function which can have catastrophic consequences. Since times have changed and technology has advanced, new vulnerabilities are present as well. Some of these vulnerabilities include lack of physical protection, communication failure, cyber defense, and recovery plans. Many critical infrastructures are exposed to physical attacks as well as natural disasters due to being exposed. Due to their size and exposure to natural disasters as well as attacks communication failure is also a present vulnerability. Many of these infrastructures have been around for years and their systems are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, especially with the increase of these attacks today. DDoS attacks can be extremely detrimental as well as poorly trained workers. Recovery plans are also a big vulnerability for these critical infrastructures. Repairing and replacing some of these machines can be very costly and take a long time due to the lack of uniformity in parts and accessibility to extras.
SCADA is the supervisory control and data acquisition, which is the means for how these systems are controlled and monitored. One way that SCADA helps mitigate these risks is through the use of the HMI or the human-machine interface. The HMI is able to give the workers or operators data which also allows the operators to control the processes occurring. Changes can be made to the automation process as well as offering operators alarms and displays to show abnormalities and prevent incidents from occurring. SCADA hardware such as the remote terminal units and supervisory stations allow the operator to make changes based on what is happening by changing flows, opening or closing valves and changing the amount of flow or speed. Having these systems connected and control over making such changes helps mitigate issues and provides workarounds to keep these systems up and running.
Resources
Common threats and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructures. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.securityinfowatch.com/security-executives/article/12232132/common-threats-and-vulnerabilities-of-critical-infrastructures
Critical infrastructure vulnerability assessments. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.cisa.gov/critical-infrastructure-vulnerability-assessments
SCADA systems. SCADA Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2022, from http://www.scadasystems.net/
Tal, J. (2018, September 20). America’s Critical Infrastructure: Threats, Vulnerabilities and Solutions. Security InfoWatch. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.securityinfowatch.com/access-identity/access-control/article/12427447/americas-critical-infrastructure-threats-vulnerabilities-and-solutions