A Simulation Environment for SCADA Security Analysis and Assessment

Industrial Control System (ICS) is a general term that includes supervisory control & data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems (DCS), and other control system configurations such as programmable logic controllers (PLC). ICSs are often found in the industrial sectors and critical infrastructures, such as nuclear and thermal plants, water treatment facilities, power generation, heavy industries, and distribution systems. Though ICSs were kept isolated from the Internet for so long, significant achievable business benefits are driving a convergence between ICSs and the Internet as well as information technology (IT) environments, such as cloud computing. As a result, ICSs have been exposed to the attack vectors used in the majority of cyber-attacks. However, ICS devices are inherently much less secure against such advanced attack scenarios. A compromise to ICS can lead to enormous physical damage and danger to human lives. In this work, we have a close look at the shift of the ICS from stand-alone systems to cloud-based environments. Then we discuss the major works, from industry and academia towards the development of the secure ICSs, especially applicability of the machine learning techniques for the ICS cyber-security. The work may help to address the challenges of securing industrial processes, particularly while migrating them to the cloud environments.

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“…Wang et al [14] confirm that simulation experiments are a potential means of analyzing and assessing the security of SCADA systems.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 97%

Cybersecurity for industrial control systems: A survey

Bhamare

Zolanvari

Erbad

et al. 2020

Computers & Security

189

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“…In contrast with the two approaches mentioned above, several testbeds (e.g., [5,11,13,21]) incorporate "real" humans and HMIs -specifically, human operators interact with real proprietary HMIs. Although such testbeds provide reliable experimental data, they are unable to support exhaustive parameter testing involving human operators and HMIs.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most critical infrastructure experimentation testbeds available today (see, e.g., [5,11,13,21]) engage real human operators and HMIs, not simulations of human operators and HMIs. Human operator modeling (see, e.g., [1,4,8,10,17,23]) is a complex task; in fact, research on designing human operator models has been around since the beginning of the 20th century [1,4].…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, testbeds that focus on the analysis of critical infrastructures should also take into account the presence of human operators.This paper argues that the presence of human operators and HMIs dramatically changes system behavior and should be taken into account when designing testbeds for analyzing critical infrastructures. Existing testbeds (see, e.g., [5,11,13,21]) may engage human operators and real HMIs, but they do not include software simulations of these components. Although testbeds with human operators and real HMIs provide reliable experimental data, they are unable to support exhaustive parameter testing.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Enabling the Exploration of Operating Procedures in Critical Infrastructures

Siaterlis

Genge

Hohenadel

et al. 2012

Critical Infrastructure Protection VI

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Modern testbeds for the experimental analysis of critical infrastructures either totally ignore the human factor or incorporate real humanmachine interfaces (HMIs) and software that require the presence of human operators during an experiment. Although experimentation with humans in the loop can provide invaluable experimental data about human decision making and reactions, it is infeasible to conduct a systematic exploration of the vast parameter space of possible human operator decisions, reasoning and actions. This paper argues that testbeds should incorporate simulated human decision making capabilities in order to engage humans in the loop, especially because humans play crucial roles in cyber security experiments involving critical infrastructures. An extension of a previously developed experimentation framework is also described; the extension provides generic "human decision" units that enable the integration of human operator and HMI models. The utility of the approach is demonstrated by assessing the impact of human operator reactions during an attack on a cyber-physical infrastructure incorporating the IEEE 30-bus power grid model.The interaction of human operators with critical infrastructures is mostly implemented using information and communications technologies, largely due to reduced costs and greater efficiency, flexibility and interoperability. Consequently, several approaches have focused on the design of (graphical) interfaces, also known as human-machine interfaces (HMIs), that assist decision making processes and reduce the reaction times of human operators [12,18]. On the other hand, human operators can also interact with a system independently of HMIs, for example, by switching a device on or off. Therefore, testbeds that focus on the analysis of critical infrastructures should also take into account the presence of human operators.This paper argues that the presence of human operators and HMIs dramatically changes system behavior and should be taken into account when designing testbeds for analyzing critical infrastructures. Existing testbeds (see, e.g., [5,11,13,21]) may engage human operators and real HMIs, but they do not include software simulations of these components. Although testbeds with human operators and real HMIs provide reliable experimental data, they are unable to support exhaustive parameter testing. This is mainly due to the costs involved in acquiring and training human operators, and the costs of customizing proprietary HMI software.Recognizing the importance of human operators and, especially, operating procedures in security experiments, we propose an extension to our previously developed experimentation framework [6]. The extension incorporates "human decision" units that can run human operator and HMI models in real time. Actions issued by the models are translated into commands that are executed in the cyber and physical realms. This way, the extended framework enables the recreation of realistic scenarios in which operators interact with the cyber realm and also ...

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“…Simulation environment has been implementing to detect the attacks and their effectiveness on SCADA communication (Wang et al, 2010;Fovino and Masera, 2010). SCADA system has several differences as comparison with traditional network (system) in the terms design and communication.…”

Section: Jcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Security Survey and Anaylsis on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Communication

Shahzad¹,

Musa²,

Aborujilah³

et al. 2014

Journal of Computer Science

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The SCADA system connectivity with several open networks using internet facility brought SCADA platform more vulnerable from attacks/threads. Therefore, the detail security review has been conducted, to find the potential security issues which are residing and warming the SCADA communication and also existing potential security solutions that are used to protect the SCADA communication. However, Security deployments are the future tread of this study. This security review is divided into four main sections: (1) Security Analysis for SCADA System, (2) SCADA Security using Cryptography Solution, (3) Key Management and Distribution Protocols for SCADA System and (4) SCADA Communication using Security Patterns. In this study; the SCADA security review has been conducted and generic security solution using cryptography will implement in future.

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A Simulation Environment for SCADA Security Analysis and Assessment

Cited by 52 publications

References 4 publications

Cybersecurity for industrial control systems: A survey

Cybersecurity for industrial control systems: A survey

Enabling the Exploration of Operating Procedures in Critical Infrastructures

The Security Survey and Anaylsis on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Communication

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