Cyber Security of Industrial Networks

SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, a communication technology which collects data from distant facilities and sends control signals to actuators. There are several factors which increase the risk associated with SCADA systems. SCADA components are considered to be profoundly privileged targets for cyber attacks through which hackers can easily hit the nation’s critical infrastructure and economy. This paper investigates security issues of SCADA communication protocols. In order to protect the SCADA networks, we focus on the protocols as they were not designed with inherent security features. Security system through protocol hardening is the main focus of this paper. The goal is to modify the structure of such protocols to provide more integrity and authentication. In the proposed structure, two algorithms are used to enhance the security and integrity of the payload. They are each discussed further in the next six sections. . Keywords—SCADA, Data link layer protocol, CRC, Cyber security, Industrial Network.