IMPROVING THE SECURITY OF SCADA SYSTEMS IN MISSION-CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES: A THOROUGH ANALYSIS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Abstract

A critical infrastructure concern is the security of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, which
are essential for ensuring the resilience and integrity of processes and operations and for maintaining service
continuity in the face of hostile and cyber-terrorist attacks. There are system-level security holes, and SCADA
protocols are often prone to them as well. Not all necessary security measures may be in place. They often rely on
"security by obscurity" or seclusion from public networks, which is in contrast to that. Hackers trying to breach
SCADA equipment have an easy target in the protocols that lack security measures like authentication and
encryption. In order to demonstrate the need of improving SCADA device security, the authors highlight the
security risks and unsolved matters associated with these devices. In addition, the article assesses SCADA networks,
delving further to discuss the available security methods to thwart assaults on these networks.