SCADA: Lame Acronym, Or Terrorist Superweapon?
One of our favorite nightmare scenarios — a terrorist cyberattack on the United States — is not very likely, according to IT security experts.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that our IT security infrastructure has very little to do with this fact.
One of the weakest links in the nation’s IT security chain involves supervisory control and data acquisition systems. SCADA (as its friends call it) sounds like a sure-fire sleeping aid — until you realize that the systems in question control things like oil refineries, water and sewer treatment plants, and — get ready to run and check your plastic-sheeting and duct-tape stash — nuclear power plants.
IT security experts don’t agree on many things. But you’ll have a hard time finding one who thinks SCADA security is anything less than a complete and utter mess.
Source and more info: cmp