Critical Infrastructure is very important. With that being said, it always needs to be protected. Critical Infrastructure needs to be protected from it’s vulnerabilities. Some examples of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities are DDos attacks, malware attacks, network segmentation, and Fishing. With that being said, that is why we use Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) which is used to control the infrastructure processes, facility based purposes, and industrial processes. 

Human Machine Interface(HMI) gives processed data to human operators. Then that human operator controls processes. This allows the databases to provide certain data such as diagnostic data, logistics information or even management information.  All these types of things help keep critical infrastructure stable and flowing.

The Hardware that goes into critical infrastructure is top of the line. They program lots of data at one time and are able to do things faster than humans do. It takes a little bit of training to set up the hardware. However, once it is up and running, it is very good to have around critical infrastructure. 

Communicating in critical infrastructure is important for various reasons. Usually IP and Ethernet is used to communicate in critical infrastructure. However, SCADA systems allow for better communication between different softwares and hardwares through the industrial networks. 

SCADA trends are another big thing. SCADA hasn’t always been as good. However, in the year 2000, almost all IO makers offered fully open interfacing like Modbus TCP instead of the IP and Ethernet. Now they are top of the line competing with standard networking technologies. 

Although SCADA is top tier, they still have various security issues. Since they are top of the line networking they are very prone to being cyberattacked. If they are to be attacked, they could lose data that is worth a fortune of money. However, SCADA plays a big role in keeping critical infrastructure safe and making sure data is kept confidential.