There are many critical infrastructure systems that are vital to the smooth running of the nation of the United States of America, but without proper use of SCADA applications, there are many vulnerabilities which can be exploited. Critical infrastructure systems refer to typically government owned public facilities which keep the necessities of a nation afloat. These systems may be vulnerable to many of the same things, such as, but not limited to, cyberattacks, aging or out of date software or facilities, technical malfunctions, and natural disasters. As Robles clearly writes in her paper, “Most Critical Infrastructures are geographically concentrated. This means that the physical location of critical infrastructures and assets are in sufficient proximity to each other. This also means that they are vulnerable to disruption of the same, or successive regional events.” (Robles 3)

SCADA applications, or Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition applications, are meant to limit the damage caused by these vulnerabilities by controlling the processes at the given infrastructure they are installed at, this may include such things as controlling the water management and treatment, power generation, or ships, all depending on the functions of the critical infrastructure they are applied to. These SCADA applications allow a critical infrastructures facility to be managed for effectively and efficiently in the case of technical malfunctions and help with response times to natural disasters which may threaten the infrastructure, but SCADA applications can still be vulnerable to cyberattacks. “There is an erroneous belief that SCADA networks are safe enough because they are secured physically. It is also wrongly believed that SCADA networks are safe enough because they are disconnected from the Internet.” (SCADA Systems 6) While SCADA systems are no doubt vital in the operation of critical infrastructure facilities, SCADA systems themselves have additional vulnerabilities that need to be accounted for and secured.

 

Works Cited

Robles, R. J. (n.d.). Common threats and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructures. Common Threats and Vulnerabilities of Critical Infrastructures. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=7098a29a404f8561c7f3c66801b6e1f36f88b7b7

SCADA systems. SCADA Systems. (n.d.). https://www.scadasystems.net/