SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOR SUPERVISORY CONTROL AND DATA ACQUISITION (SCADA) NETWORKS IN INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEMS

Abstract

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks play a vital role in Industrial Control Systems (ICSs). Industrial organizations perform operations remotely through SCADA systems to accelerate their processes. However, these network capabilities come at the cost of exposing the systems to cyber-attacks. Consequently, effective solutions are required to detect intrusions and secure SCADA systems as cyber-attacks on industrial infrastructure can have catastrophic consequences. Furthermore, SCADA field devices are equipped with micro-controllers for processing information and have limited computational power and resources. As a result, lightweight cryptography solutions are needed to strengthen the security of industrial plants against cyber threats. The Ph.D. work focuses on three major elements to secure the SCADA-based ICSs, namely, vulnerability assessment of field-site components, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) for plant floor and control center, and robust cryptographic-based secure solution for SCADA communications. The overall goal of this thesis is to cover the landscape of SCADA weaknesses by providing efficient, lightweight, and robust solutions to strengthen the security of industrial applications. The contributions of this thesis fulfill the objective of providing a full life-cycle strategy to innovate, design, and implement a security framework to protect SCADA networks against cyber-attacks in industrial control systems