Security Architecture for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Networks

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Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks are an integral part of critical industrial infrastructures, such as power grids, water supply units, nuclear plants, oil and natural gas pipelines, and other distributed systems. Traditional SCADA networks were isolated and their applications were individually managed. However, recent designs are beginning to increasingly use open access communication protocols and the applications that they manage are mainly smart devices and sensors that connect via the Internet. While this has led to improved performance and better manageability, it has also exposed such systems to cyber-threats and made them vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Research on securing SCADA networks has attracted enormous attention due to its inherent challenges, namely, lack of standards, weak cryptographic protocols due to resource constraints, and the distributed open access nature of such systems. The primary objective of this proposal is to investigate, design and develop a security architecture for SCADA networks and test it on two critical infrastructure applications, namely, smart grid and smart water supply management. The novelty of the proposal is the design and development of an end-to-end architecture that uses a context-aware framework with lightweight algorithms for mitigating cyber attacks on SCADA networks. The supporting organizations for this proposal are Cistel Technology Inc., an Ottawa based IT company that is developing a smart power system and Technologie Sanstream, a Quebec based company that is developing a smart water management system. Thus this research will address a crucial area in the design and deployment of secure SCADA networks for both companies. Over a period of three years, this project will train two Ph.D. students and nine Masters students. These students will gain rich knowledge and diverse skill sets in the areas of cyber-security and smart critical infrastructures, consequently benefiting Canadian organizations and industries that are in urgent need of highly qualified personnel in this area.