CYBER SCAPE AFRICA | Q2
2019
Securing
The
Nation’s
Infrastructure
Critical Infrastructure: Of ICS
& Cybersecurity Supervisory Control And
Data Acquisition
Industrial Control Systems (ICS) generally
encompass several types of control systems,
including supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed
control systems (DCS), and other control
system configurations such as Programmable
Logic Controllers (PLC) often found in the
industrial sectors and critical infrastructures.
ICS are typically used in industries such as
electrical distribution, water treatment
plants, oil and natural gas pipelines, chemical,
transportation, pharmaceutical, food and
beverage processing, and discrete
manufacturing such as automotive,
aerospace, and durable goods. These control SCADA systems are highly distributed systems
used to control geographically dispersed assets,
often scattered over thousands of square
kilometers, where centralized data acquisition
and control are critical to system operation.
They are used in distribution systems such as
water distribution and wastewater collection
systems, oil and natural gas pipelines, electrical
power grids, and railway transportation systems.
A SCADA control center performs centralized
monitoring and control for field sites over
long-distance communications networks,
including monitoring alarms and processing
status data. Based on information received from
remote stations, automated or operator-driven
supervisory commands can be pushed to remote
station control devices, which are often referred
to as field devices. Field devices control local
operations such as opening and closing valves
and breakers, collecting data from sensor
systems, and monitoring the local environment
for alarm conditions.
systems are critical to the operation of any
country's critical infrastructures that are
often highly interconnected and mutually
dependent systems.
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