Refers to industrial control systems (ICS) that are employed to control and keep track of data. It is often used for critical infrastructures, e.g. electric power distribution, oil and natural gas distribution, water and waste-water treatment, transportation systems, etc. SCADA is a computer system used to gather and analyze real-time data.
Published in Chapter:
Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure: Review and Challenges
Ana Kovacevic (University of Belgrade, Serbia) and Dragana Nikolic (University of Belgrade, Serbia)
Copyright: © 2015
|Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6324-4.ch001
Abstract
We are facing the expansion of cyber incidents, and they are becoming more severe. This results in the necessity to improve security, especially in the vulnerable field of critical infrastructure. One of the problems in the security of critical infrastructures is the level of awareness related to the effect of cyberattacks. The threat to critical infrastructure is real, so it is necessary to be aware of it and anticipate, predict, and prepare against a cyber attack. The main reason for the escalation of cyberattacks in the field of Critical Infrastructure (CI) may be that most control systems used for CI do not utilise propriety protocols and software anymore; they instead utilise standard solutions. As a result, critical infrastructure systems are more than ever before becoming vulnerable and exposed to cyber threats. It is important to get an insight into what attack types occur, as this may help direct cyber security efforts. In this chapter, the authors present vulnerabilities of SCADA systems against cyber attack, analyse and classify existing cyber attacks, and give future directions to achieve better security of SCADA systems.