Lessons Learned from SCADA Malware Attacks

Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame are high-profile malware attacking industrial control systems and related supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. From these lessons learned on how they attack and affect the systems we try to gain more understanding of SCADA cybersecurity measures.

Firmware modifications attack (Cui, Costello and Stolfo, 2013) was researched before. The way of a massive attack on hard disk firmwares like this scale has not been fully understood. This paper intends to explore potential ways to handle the scenario.

Trust no one, not even your end users: That's the underlying theme of a new security model proposed by Forrester Research called "Zero Trust," which calls for enterprises to inspect all network traffic, from the outside and on the inside. It means inspecting all traffic in real time. The relevant network architecture would deploy what Forrester calls a network segmentation gateway. It's like a UTM [unified threat management] tool or firewall on steroids. It's a new security paradigm, Forrester claims.

A cyber attack adversely affects (1) information systems & their data, (2) critical infrastructure (e.g. power grid, nuclear plant, etc.), and (3) internet of things. Cybersecurity involves protecting confidentiality, availability, integrity and cyber safety of systems, data and people.

What Is Malware Anyway?

Malicious software (malware) is a name given to a variety of software designed to interfere with the normal functioning of a single computer, server or a computer network.

Changes in Quantity

We can witness a rapid growth of malware in the last decade.