The subsequent security problems attributable to increasing interconnectivity of SCADA systems

Due to the deregulation of the energy industry, an aggressively competitive market has evolved, which in turn has pressurised many utility owners and manufacturers towards amalgamating intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) in the entire power network. This merger of IEDs communication mediums will harness the full potential of distributed functions as well as enhancing the automation of the overall control process within power system networks. A modern power system employs computer networks such as local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) as its communication backbone to transmit its critical data from IEDs to the control centre. This of course has saved utilities much of the costs associated with the use of dedicated control wiring and the purpose-built communication channels. However, the adoption of computer network technology brings data security concerns to power systems. Hence, a reliable and amore robust security mechanism is essential to avoid any catastrophic failure due to data insecurity. Furthermore, the communication protocols employed in power networks were not originally designed to be used in WAN environment. This brings more anxieties for power utilities. Consequently, significant research is required to overcome this critical issue. This paper will provide an overview of power system security vulnerabilities and attributed problems due to the increasing interconnectivity of SCADA systems.