3,190 research outputs found
Assessing and augmenting SCADA cyber security: a survey of techniques
SCADA systems monitor and control critical infrastructures of national importance such as power generation and distribution, water supply, transportation networks, and manufacturing facilities. The pervasiveness, miniaturisations and declining costs of internet connectivity have transformed these systems from strictly isolated to highly interconnected networks. The connectivity provides immense benefits such as reliability, scalability and remote connectivity, but at the same time exposes an otherwise isolated and secure system, to global cyber security threats. This inevitable transformation to highly connected systems thus necessitates effective security safeguards to be in place as any compromise or downtime of SCADA systems can have severe economic, safety and security ramifications. One way to ensure vital asset protection is to adopt a viewpoint similar to an attacker to determine weaknesses and loopholes in defences. Such mind sets help to identify and fix potential breaches before their exploitation. This paper surveys tools and techniques to uncover SCADA system vulnerabilities. A comprehensive review of the selected approaches is provided along with their applicability
Incident Analysis & Digital Forensics in SCADA and Industrial Control Systems
SCADA and industrial control systems have been traditionally isolated in physically protected environments. However, developments such as standardisation of data exchange protocols and increased use of IP, emerging wireless sensor networks and machine-to-machine communication mean that in the near future related threat vectors will require consideration too outside the scope of traditional SCADA security and incident response. In the light of the significance of SCADA for the resilience of critical infrastructures and the related targeted incidents against them (e.g. the development of stuxnet), cyber security and digital forensics emerge as priority areas. In this paper we focus on the latter, exploring the current capability of SCADA operators to analyse security incidents and develop situational awareness based on a robust digital evidence perspective. We look at the logging capabilities of a typical SCADA architecture and the analytical techniques and investigative tools that may help develop forensic readiness to the level of the current threat environment requirements. We also provide recommendations for data capture and retention
PID control system analysis, design, and technology
Designing and tuning a proportional-integral-derivative
(PID) controller appears to be conceptually intuitive, but can
be hard in practice, if multiple (and often conflicting) objectives
such as short transient and high stability are to be achieved.
Usually, initial designs obtained by all means need to be adjusted
repeatedly through computer simulations until the closed-loop
system performs or compromises as desired. This stimulates
the development of "intelligent" tools that can assist engineers
to achieve the best overall PID control for the entire operating
envelope. This development has further led to the incorporation
of some advanced tuning algorithms into PID hardware modules.
Corresponding to these developments, this paper presents a
modern overview of functionalities and tuning methods in patents,
software packages and commercial hardware modules. It is seen
that many PID variants have been developed in order to improve
transient performance, but standardising and modularising PID
control are desired, although challenging. The inclusion of system
identification and "intelligent" techniques in software based PID
systems helps automate the entire design and tuning process to
a useful degree. This should also assist future development of
"plug-and-play" PID controllers that are widely applicable and
can be set up easily and operate optimally for enhanced productivity,
improved quality and reduced maintenance requirements
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