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• Executive Sessions for CEOs, CIOs & CISOs
• Practitioner security workshops
• Registration for SCADA Practitioner Workshops and Executive Sessions

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CYBER ATTACK: Free Practitioner Workshops and Executive Sessions on Cyber Threats to Industrial Control Systems

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and other industrial control systems are the ‘central nervous system’ for a vast array of sensors, alarms and switches that provide automated control and monitoring functions for essential services.

Due to the reliance of critical infrastructure sectors on these industrial control systems for their day-to-day operations the Australian Government, in cooperation with industry, organised a series of free SCADA practitioner and Executive Sessions starting in June 2007. These workshops and Executive Sessions were conducted in order to transfer knowledge on industrial control (IC) and SCADA IT security practices to the SCADA community.  They were also designed to encourage owners and operators of IC and SCADA systems to improve the resilience of their systems. Information regarding the achievements of the June SCADA practitioner workshops and Executive Sessions, including workshop presentations, as well as details of other SCADA security initiatives, can be found at the SCADA COI information portal or by contacting the Secretariat on 02 6271 1595”

Why is SCADA risk management important?

SCADA systems are used for remote monitoring and control in the delivery of Australia’s essential services such as:

• electricity utilities;
• natural gas utilities;
• water utilities;
• sewerage utilities;
• transportation services;
• communications services; and
• other critical infrastructure services.

These services are increasingly being connected to corporate systems and either directly or indirectly to one another through the Internet. Therefore, these systems require protection from cyber attack.

The failure or disruption of the day-to-day delivery of essential services could cause a significant loss of brand, or organisational reputation. It could also involve judicial action and penalties for non-compliance with regulatory requirements. The failure of critical infrastructure and essential services can also have severe consequences for the wider Australian community.

Therefore, it is important for CEOs, CIOs, CISOs, other senior executives and practitioners to have a clear understanding of the emerging threats and vulnerabilities to SCADA systems, and mitigate risk to SCADA and other industrial control systems.

Additional information is available from the SCADA Information Portal: www.scadacoi.com.au.

The Portal is a resource that assists collaboration and information exchange between IC and SCADA practitioners and engineers on cyber security issues. It also provides links to critical information sharing sites from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and New Zealand.

• Document ID: 62421 |
• Last modified: 5 February 2008, 7:00pm