A Taxonomy of Attacks on the DNP3 Protocol

Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) is the predominant SCADA protocol in the energy sector – more than 75% of North American electric utilities currently use DNP3 for industrial control applications. This paper presents a taxonomy of attacks on the protocol. The attacks are classified based on targets (control center, outstation devices and network/communication paths) and threat categories (interception, interruption, modification and fabrication). To facilitate risk analysis and mitigation strategies, the attacks are associated with the specific DNP3 protocol layers they exploit. Also, the operational impact of the attacks is categorized in terms of three key SCADA objectives: process confidentiality, process awareness and process control. The attack taxonomy clarifies the nature and scope of the threats to DNP3 systems, and can provide insights into the relative costs and benefits of implementing mitigation strategies.