SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, and it is used to control, monitor, and record events of systems. This system is very useful, especially for many industrial organizations. It allows people to access the logs and records recorded from anywhere to document any trouble. Many companies that specialize in food, power, transportation, etc. use this technology.
For manufacturing this can tell exactly what machine that is down can delay or cause improper product. For food companies, it can show if a refrigerator is working incorrectly which can damage what is inside. Many love this technology as it allows them to collect accurate and distinct data to make correct and swift decisions. The design is also convenient for those not experienced with the technology.
As with many things, SCADA has vulnerabilities that throughout the years have been exploited. This can cause serious damage as these systems are used for many products such as controlling traffic lights. HMIs are used to display interfaces and data which makes it a major target. Employers will use this to see the issue but can also use it to implement the fix. Web interfaces are another target as many engineers will use this to fix a machine remotely or control them. Hackers can trick the applications to dop the wrong protocol or change the settings making the processes infiltrated. Due to the equipment having to communicate it then becomes another objective as they typically lack security and can the mechanism to malfunction and tamper with the data.
Resources:
One flaw too many: Vulnerabilities in SCADA systems. Security News. (2019, December 16). https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/vulnerabilities-and-exploits/one-flaw-too-many-vulnerabilities-in-scada-systems
SCADA: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. Inductive Automation. (2018, September 12). https://inductiveautomation.com/resources/article/what-is-scada