What is SCADA Security?

Understanding SCADA Security

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) Security addresses the distinct challenges of protecting the systems that monitor and control critical infrastructure processes across sectors like energy, water, transportation, and manufacturing. These specialized environments differ significantly from traditional IT: they often use proprietary protocols and legacy equipment with decades-long lifecycles, have stringent availability requirements that complicate security updates, and directly impact physical safety and essential services when compromised. Security approaches must account for these unique characteristics, focusing on network segmentation to isolate SCADA networks from corporate IT, implementing unidirectional gateways where appropriate, deploying specialized monitoring that understands industrial protocols, and developing incident response procedures that prioritize operational continuity and safety. Organizations face significant challenges around asset visibility in environments that often lack comprehensive inventories, patching systems that require continuous availability, and managing vendor relationships when many components have embedded software outside the organization’s direct control. Effective security programs combine technical controls with engineering expertise to understand both the cybersecurity and operational implications of potential vulnerabilities and mitigations.