Intrusion avoidance for SCADA security in industrial plants

In this paper we present an overview of security threats to the cyber infrastructure of industrial and power plants and the current state of affairs of industrial and SCADA cyber security. Control systems security is of prime importance especially for energy sector. North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) has issued mandatory rules which must be complied by 2010 by all registered power operators in order to ensure control systems security for power plants. Cyber security assessment was conducted on ICS (Industrial control systems) of different companies for a period of four years and several vulnerabilities were identified. Main problems included use of weak encryption, standard protocols and information disclosure using unencrypted communication among ICS hosts on the network. Exploiting these vulnerabilities, a hacker could alter the communication between ICS and controlled equipment, resulting in malfunction. Overcoming these vulnerabilities is essential in order to protect the vital power sector in any country of the world. We present important guidelines and standards in cyber security and propose a simple intrusion detection scheme for SCADA networks.