SCADA Cyber Security

Thanks to our friends at Tofino  who recently compiled a great blog post about SCADA Cyber Security issues. Some of the key takeaways: 

1. Industrial infrastructures are growing in size and complexity. And it’s all too clear that traditional enterprise IT solutions have not been successful at safeguarding them from cyber-attack. They do not meet the best-practice deep-packet inspection capability in the field, nor do they place an emphasis on zone protection network segmentation. As well, they tend to focus on preventing loss of confidential information, rather than what really matters in the industrial world – reliability and integrity of the system.

2. It’s evident that there’s no simple solution to securing our critical infrastructure. It’s going to take time and careful planning. A combination of best practices, utilising technologies designed for industrial security, and focused effort is the only way to mitigate the risk of attacks on industrial systems.

3. Look for technology solutions that are designed specifically for the plant floor, rather than for standard IT systems. Seek robust technologies that integrate with industrial network management systems. Deploy firewalls that secure industrial protocols, and practice Defense in Depth with zone-level security. Download the 7 Steps to ICS and SCADA security whitepaper

4. Last but not least, let’s not forget the importance of teamwork. IT and engineering teams must collaborate to ensure that best practices are in place and that innovative advances to security are developed and deployed. Regardless of whether your organisation is a critical infrastructure provider, or whether your enterprise has one or many industrial networks, securing your networks has never been more important.

In 2013, do you think enough emphasis is being placed on the importance of industrial cyber security? Are you making any significant progress in tackling this issue? What else needs to be done?  For more information about protecting your SCADA infrastructure,  visit our website in the UK and Ireland.