SCADA Systems
Karen F. Madrigal
Old Dominion University
CYSE 200T
09/20/2026
Introduction
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is an architecture that enables industrial organizations to manage, monitor, and control processes, machines, and plants (Fortinet, n.d.). SCADA has various uses across many industries, such as farming, water and waste management, pharmaceuticals, and industrial manufacturing, including both private businesses and government. It is used for quality control, alert monitoring, reporting, and data collection. Because of these functions, SCADA has become a cornerstone of our society, with many aspects of our daily lives relying on its proper use and operation. With the rise of cyberterrorism, it is our responsibility to take steps to ensure its security. Because of this, it is imperative that we take precautions to make sure these critical systems remain secure and operational.
Discussion
SCADA uses networks, computers, and HMIs to gather data in order to manage and control processes in various industries. A number of these industries have important daily functions in our lives, and if there were a critical failure or cyberattack, the consequences of the system failing could cost lives. Some of these industries include water management, transportation, food production, and electrical generation. In water management, SCADA is used to control and pump water throughout the water management system. In transportation, it is used to coordinate schedules and deploy various trains, as well as help make sure train cars safely pass by each other. In electrical generation, it is used to monitor every phase of generating electricity. Finally, in food production, SCADA is used to monitor quality and test various products being assembled in-house and in factories.
As critical as these systems are to our everyday lives, they do run the risk of vulnerabilities that, if not addressed properly, could have a significant impact on our quality of life. Some of these vulnerabilities include unsupported operating systems and legacy devices (PTE, 2026). Many SCADA systems are still being used while running on older operating systems that no longer receive updates or security patches. This can create opportunities for threat actors to gain access to these critical systems, as many of these older unsupported systems have known and established vulnerabilities that a threat actor can look up. Another vulnerability that can be exploited is legacy devices that were built in the 1990s and 2000s. These legacy devices were not created with cybersecurity in mind. Because of this, they may have no true encryption, software updates, or strong authentication protocols.
As established before, these systems are critical to our everyday lives, and because of this, they have huge implications for how we go about our day-to-day lives. A cybersecurity attack on SCADA systems could potentially taint water from waste management systems. That could result in billions of dollars in cleanup costs and potentially cause long-term contamination of our water sources and homes. In the case of our food production, we would not necessarily see the effects immediately. Instead, we could see specific products being halted within 48 hours, but if the attack continues past that point, we could see food shortages within a week.
There are ways that we can save our SCADA systems from future disruption. This includes allowing stricter authentication of personnel to ensure that only those who have access are actually who they say they are. We can also slowly shift or migrate legacy devices away from being in use. Another option is to implement the use of encryption, firewalls, and micro segmentation on network systems. This would still allow older legacy devices and software to be used while providing additional protection for the network itself.
References
Fortinet. (n.d.). What is SCADA and SCADA system? Fortinet
High Tide Technologies. (n.d.). Industries that use SCADA systems. https://htt.io/learning-center/industries-that-use-scada-systems citeturn0view0
PTE. (2026). Top SCADA vulnerabilities and mitigation. https://www.pteinc.com/top-scada-vulnerabilities-mitigation-2026/
Ribeiro, A. (2026, September 8). Cyberattacks on food and agriculture can turn disruptions into safety crises, threatening public health and supply chains. Industrial Cyber. https://industrialcyber.co/features/cyberattacks-on-food-and-agriculture-can-turn-disruptions-into-safety-crises-threatening-public-health-and-supply-chains/