Critical infrastructure systems are important and necessary aspects which keep our economy functioning efficiently. Some of these are our water supply, gas pipelines, highways, railroads, etc. However, these critical infrastructure systems can become vulnerable to attacks, specifically cyber-related. One example of a threat to critical infrastructure is the Colonial Pipeline attack. It happened back in May of this year and it affected the entire east coast population from getting gas. Another example is the attack on the U.S. water authority’s cellular network. As a result, “the hackers used the cellular routers to jack up the cellular data bills by 15,000%, from $300 monthly to over $50,000 over a two month period” (Weinberg, 2021). One of the last examples I would like to discuss is the Triton Malware attack. This happened back in 2017 with the sole purpose of killing people with the “release of toxic gas”. When it comes to mitigating these vulnerabilities, SCADA systems play a huge role. It stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. One of the functions of the system is that it records and displays any changes that are made. Furthermore, “data is…formatted in such way that the operator of the control room can make the supervisory decisions to override or adjust normal PLC (RTU) controls, by using the HMI” (SCADA Systems). Also, it is a more reliable system because it automatically detects a part of the system that is failing and backs it up on secure hardware. To clarify, “it can be replaced without any interruption of the process” (SCADA Systems). This is important because you want to have a system that you can depend on in times where it is uncertain on whether or not the strategy of how hackers plan their attacks. Lastly, it is best to utilize a system like the SCADA to ensure critical infrastructures are not subjected to attacks by cyber criminals.

References:
SCADA Systems. Google doc.
Weinberg, Adam. (2021, June 2). Analysis of top 11 cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. https://www.firstpoint-mg.com/blog/analysis-of-top-11-cyber-attackson-critical-infrastructure/.