What Is SCADA in Cybersecurity?

In cybersecurity, SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. These are industrial systems that monitor, analyse, and control devices, systems, and applications used in industrial setups, like manufacturing plants, power plants, water treatment facilities, etc. SCADA systems have both hardware and software components and you can use them to collect data from industrial devices on-site or remotely.

What are the 3 types of SCADA?

The three main types of SCADA systems are:Monolithic: First-gen SCADA systems that operate independently without connecting other systemsDistributed: Operates with multiple controllers and enables data sharing in the networkNetworked: Communicates over voice lines or data and uses WANs to integrate different SCADA systems

What are the 4 levels of SCADA?

The 4 SCADA levels are:Level 0: Field devices, including physical devices like sensors, switches, valves, etc.Level 1: Local control stations like programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and remote terminal units (RTUs)Level 2: The primary SCADA server or station to collect data from multiple stationsLevel 3: Manufacturing execution systems (MES) to manage prediction processesLevel 4: Enterprise business systems to manage operations like ERPs and CRMs

ICS/OT/SCADA Security Assessment Services - Microminder Cyber Security

SCADA Assessment Services by Microminder CS

Defend your critical infrastructure from cyber threats with MCS’s comprehensive, end-to-end ICS/OT/SCADA security assessment services. Operate confidently knowing that you’re safe whether you’re monitoring SCADA and ICS networks, controlling your industrial processes, or managing data with our industrial cybersecurity services.

Reliable SCADA Assessment Services - Monitor, Control, and Protect

Microminder’s reliable SCADA security assessment services safeguard your devices, data, industrial networks, and production lines from internal and external cyberattacks. We utilise our technical expertise and deep knowledge of industry-specific requirements to test your SCADA systems for vulnerabilities and help remediate them.

We help protect your critical infrastructure and industrial systems, so they operate with optimal quality and performance 24/7 to promote business continuity and deliver better customer experiences.

What Are ICS/OT/SCADA Assessments and Why Should You Care?

ICS/OT/SCADA assessments are a type of cybersecurity evaluation performed to detect, analyse, and mitigate vulnerabilities in an organisation’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, industrial control systems (ICS), and operational technologies (OT).

Many industries across the world rely on SCADA systems to supervise vital processes, improve weaker processes, and manage data effortlessly. These networks were originally designed to be isolated from other organisational networks. However, they’ve become more connected in modern production environments, interacting with corporate clouds and networks more often. In addition, these networks can have legacy systems, which could be vulnerable.

This presents a lucrative opportunity for attackers, like cybercriminals, terrorists, and malicious employees to compromise SCADA, ICS, or OT systems. It can disrupt essential services and commodities (such as transportation, electricity, gas, etc.) and critical infrastructure (such as water treatment plants, power plants, medical equipment factories and essential services). As a result, reputation, finances, and even lives could be in danger.

But there’s a way to avoid all of this by conducting ICS and SCADA cybersecurity assessments to detect and fix vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.

What Do We Do to Secure Your ICS/OT/SCADA Systems?

Here’s what we do for your operational technology security:

Assessing network security

We examine your industrial network security architecture, including firewalls, configurations, segmentation policies, etc. to find vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit to enter your network and access SCADA systems. We then assist in vulnerability remediation and security of SCADA systems in your network with our effective controls and policies.

Mapping all systems

Our security experts assess every software and system, to secure entry and exit points. They check software versions, protocols, and firmware stability to find weaknesses and patch security gaps.

Physical security

We aim to ensure robust physical security for your SCADA systems, keeping them aligned with cybersecurity measures for complete critical infrastructure protection. For example, we ensure your on-site equipment and devices are secure from unauthorised access.

Internal security

Threats don’t always come from outside; sometimes a malicious insider is responsible for breaking havoc in your organisation. We help identify insider threats by carefully assessing accounts with vital access permissions.

Continuous monitoring

Our experts continuously monitor your SCADA, ICS, and OT systems for vulnerabilities, threats, and risks. We also assess the efficiency and compatibility of your real-time monitoring solutions in use and alert you about threats. This helps in quick incident detection and response, minimising impacts and downtimes.

Compliance

Our security experts perform compliance assessments and align our cyber defence strategies to OT-specific security frameworks, such as ISO 27019, NIST 800-82, NERC CIP, and ISA/IEC 62443. This makes it easier for you to achieve ICS security compliance. We also provide industry-specific security guidance to improve your security posture.

ICS/ SCADA security assessment is different from other security checks

How Do We Conduct SCADA Assessment Works at Microminder CS?

At Microminder, we follow the CREST ICS Testing process for SCADA security assessments that meet NIST guidelines. Let’s understand the step-by-step process we follow in our SCADA security solutions:

1
Defining Test Scope: We start by defining the scope of SCADA cybersecurity assessments and agreeing on them. At Microminder, we spend time with your team to understand your business, operations, attack surface, and current security posture. It helps us create a detailed and tailored testing scope for your business that can address your security challenges.

In this phase, we confirm our testing team’s composition along with the infrastructure, devices, and systems in the scope.

How Do We Conduct SCADA Assessment Works at Microminder CS?

2
Gathering Information: In the next stage, we gather intelligence on vulnerabilities, threats, and risks in your SCADA/ICS/OT systems. We also analyse the potential impacts of each security risk on your organisation. Based on the severity of risks, we prioritise each vulnerability or risk for remediation.

In addition, we identify ICS/SCADA assets and evaluate their configuration, software versions, network topology, and other key details.

Based on all these insights, we develop a test plan. It involves creating a suitable test scenario and setting up the test schedule. We ensure to base the scenarios on recent trends, vulnerabilities, and threats to keep up with evolving attacks.
3
Penetration Testing: Our experienced and skilled pen testers perform penetration testing based on real-world attack scenarios on your SCADA systems. These tests are non-invasive in nature where we’ll assess how your team responds to the attack.

Through penetration testing, we aim to identify potential vulnerabilities and security gaps in your systems that attackers can exploit and launch a real attack. In addition, we also evaluate the impact of the discovered vulnerabilities and risks and provide actionable suggestions for remediation.
4
Reporting: Once the penetration test is complete, we document the activity in detail - vulnerabilities discovered, assets under potential risks, the priority levels and impacts of the risks, the effectiveness of the incident response, and remediation strategies.
5
Discussion and Remediation: We discuss the test and findings with your key stakeholders and walk them through our detailed remediation plans. This helps you fix security issues based on their severity levels and protect your SCADA/ICS/OT systems from attacks that can disrupt your critical infrastructure.

Assess Your SCADA systems today!

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