Information Exchange: Projects

Empirically Based Analysis of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems and Critical Infrastructures

Funded as part of the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) Research Plan, “Unifying Stakeholders and Security Programs to Address SCADA Vulnerabilities and Infrastructure Interdependencies.” Project Sponsor: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Domestic Preparedness/Office of Justice Programs through I3P at Dartmouth College.

Computerized detection and control systems provide both opportunities and risks for the protection and management of critical infrastructures. Recent large-scale accidents exemplify the substantial effect these computerized systems can have on infrastructure, and potential implications of these failures for security. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are a type of computerized information technology. This research analyzes (1) trends in attacks on oil and gas infrastructures internationally using statistical analyses of event databases as a context for investigating SCADA vulnerability; (2) interdependencies between oil and gas and infrastructures such as water and electricity; and (3) through case analysis, the use and vulnerability of SCADA directly in oil and gas industries and its interdependent infrastructures. Oil and gas is a key research focus, since it has been a particular target of terrorist attacks internationally. This empirical case-based and event-focused approach complements and provides inputs to modeling approaches for risk management of these systems. Users of this work include designers, managers, and operators of SCADA and infrastructure in the private sector; government regulators; professional communities; and researchers in academic, industry, and government sectors.

Current Announcements

For a list of publications created as a part of the I3P SCADA project from 2003-2007 please see

icisnyu.org/assets/documents/PubsListICISNYUforI3P.pdf

(updated October 2007)

I3P Consortium Partners on the SCADA Research Team: Sandia National Laboratories, University of Virginia, University of Tulsa, New York University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, SRI International, MITRE, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and Dartmouth College. See www.thei3p.org.

Contact Email: info@icisnyu.org  

People:

• Culpen, Alison
• Dooskin, Nicole
• Hartwell, Ray
• Holmgren, Ake
• Lear, Michael
• Nagorsky, Becca
• Naphtali, Zvia
• Remington, Wendy
• Restrepo, Carlos
• Simonoff, Jeffrey
• Zimmerman, Rae

Publications:

• Analyzing Vulnerabilities in the Oil and Gas Sector from Incident Data
• Connectivity and Consistency of Environmental Decision Tools for Community Planning
• Critical Infrastructure and Interdependency
• Environmental Dimensions of Terrorism and Natural Hazards
• Estimating Consequences of Terrorism Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure: Electric Power Case
• Global Climate Change Impacts on Coastal Infrastructure Services
• Information Technology (IT) and Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies for Emergency Response
• Measures of Risks of Failure of Oil and Gas Facilities for Energy Risk Management
• Modeling Spatial Concentration of Transportation Systems to Assess Vulnerability to Natural Hazard and Terrorist Threats
• Planning Tools to Protect Border Area Infrastructure
• Publications list NYU/ICIS for I3P SCADA
• Research Brief No. 1: Vulnerabilities in the Oil and Gas Sector: International Terrorist Attacks
• Research Brief No. 2: Vulnerabilities in the Oil and Gas Sector Pipeline Networks: Analysis of Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) Data
• Research Brief No. 3: Infrastructure Interdependencies and Geographic Concentration for Oil and Gas Process Control System Risk Management
• Robust Transportation and Future Threats: from Terrorism to Climate Change
• Sustainability and Security
• The New York City Region and the University
• The Next Step: Quantifying Infrastructure Interdependencies to Improve Security
• Trends and Patterns in Oil and Gas Industry Vulnerabilities
• Trends for Oil and Gas Terrorist Attacks
• Vulnerabilities and Critical Infrastructure
• Vulnerabilities in the Oil and Gas Sector

Events:

• Civil Infrastructure Protection (CIP) R&D Workshop for Academic and Federal Lab R&D Providers
• I3P Control Systems Security Workshop
• Process Control Systems Security Workshop: Demonstrations of Security Solutions and Research Findings for the Oil and Gas Industry
• SCADA Security Workshop

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