SCADA systems are designed to control industrial systems. The acronym stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. These systems have been around for many years and can be categorized into three distinct generations. The 1st Gen systems are categorized as “Monolithic” and their key distinction is that they were created as standalone systems with little or no network connectivity. Later, there was network connectivity developed for the remote terminal units, but it was strictly proprietary (SCADA systems). 2nd Gen systems were called “Distributed” and these SCADA systems were able to network and share information between units. The issue of these systems being proprietary continued from the 1st Gen systems, leaving questions of security of the systems (SCADA systems). The 3rd Gen systems are called “Networked” and this is the generation of SCADA systems that has carried on to the present day. These systems can now communicate through protocols such as IP, and with this is increased risk, but modern security solutions can also now be applied to protect and harden these systems, as well.
It seems that a lot of the security issues surrounding SCADA systems comes from the fact that the can generate a false sense of security. By being isolated from outside networks and doing limited functions, as well as the fact that they can go years without being attacked from the outside, users can begin to feel like there are no threats to their systems. However, as outlined in the article, there are two major threats to SCADA systems. The first threat being unauthorized access and the second threat being packet access to the network devices that host SCADA systems (SCADA systems). By being isolated, a major threat, would be a threat actor that is able to gain physical access to the area housing these SCADA systems. So, while cybersecurity specialists are busy focusing on protecting from threat actors trying to attack from far away locations, someone may exploit the systems right under their nose.
The good news is that vendors are constantly improving and developing software to protect and harden these specialized industrial systems. This is great, because the repercussions of incidents involving SCADA systems could be vast, including bodily harm and death.
References
SCADA systems. SCADA Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2022, from http://www.scadasystems.net/