Evan Potts
4/22/2023
IT200T
Professor Duvall
Instructions
In this write-up you will use the SCADA Systems Links to an external site. article, along with your own research, to explain the vulnerabilities associated with critical infrastructure systems, and the role SCADA applications play in mitigating these risks.
What are SCADA Systems?
Supervisory control and data acquisition which stands for SCADA Systems. The SCADA is a software application category that controls infrastructure, facility-based, and industrial processes. SCADA Systems are crucial for industrial organizations to maintain their efficiency, process data, and communicate system issues. SCADA is one of the most well-used types of industrial control systems; SCADA can be used to manage almost all types of industrial processes. SCADA systems help keep a record of all events for reporting process status and issues.
Vulnerabilities of SCADA Systems
Like other systems, SCADA has its own weaknesses such as being a potential target of Cyber terrorism and cyberwarfare attacks. A threat that SCADA systems face is any person that sends data packets to a SCADA device is also in a position to control it which means if they wanted to take malicious advantage of this they could. Security for SCADA Systems is a big concern because, since they are disconnected from the internet and controlled by operators if they fall into the wrong hands and are taken advantage of there could be bad consequences. SCADA systems are responsible for monitoring the distribution of water, traffic lights, electricity transmissions, gas transport, oil pipelines, etc., if these were used with bad intent like how in 2021 the Colonial gas pipeline was hacked and caused many issues for people and the economy.
Role SCADA Systems have in Mitigating Risk
SCADA systems applications can also warn operators of when conditions become questionable and start causing issues by sounding alarms. SCADA systems can quickly notify an operator if there is a high number of errors within a product; This notification error allows the operator to immediately look at ways to resolve the problem and keep a log of how to prevent further issues and loss of product. SCADA uses elements like controlling industrial processes locally or remotely, gathering data in real-time, machines that directly interact with devices, and recording events into log files.
Citations
Kurii, Yevhenii. “Scada Cyber Security Threats and Countermeasures: Ultimate Checklist.” ELEKS, 2 Mar. 2022, https://eleks.com/blog/scada-cyber-security-threats-countermeasures/.
Loshin, Peter. “What Is SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)?” WhatIs.com, TechTarget, 16 Dec. 2021, https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/SCADA-supervisory-control-and-data-acquisition.
“What Is SCADA?” Inductive Automation, https://inductiveautomation.com/resources/article/what-is-scada.