SCADA Security: Challenges and Solutions

By Metin Ozturk and Philip Aubin

This paper presents the case for improving security to SCADA systems. It examines the factors that have contributed to the growing vulnerability of control systems, and presents new standards designed to protect critical infrastructure including the use of encryption and authentication for SCADA systems.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are typically used for monitoring and controlling geographically remote operations. In relative obscurity, these extensive control systems perform behind-the-scenes, collecting sensor measurements and operational data from the field, processing and displaying this information, and relaying control commands to local or remote equipment. Although SCADA systems are employed around the world in numerous industries, the average citizen is unaware of their critical importance. However, this is quickly changing as more information about the cyber vulnerabilities of utility SCADA systems is publicly available.