SCADAVT-A framework for SCADA security testbed based on virtualization technology

Abstract

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems monitor and control infrastructures and industrial processes such as smart grid power and water distribution systems. Recently, such systems have been attacked, and traditional security solutions have failed to provide an appropriate level of protection. Therefore, it is important to develop security solutions tailored to SCADA systems. However, it is impractical to evaluate such solutions on actual live systems. This paper proposes a SCADA security testbed based on virtualization technology, and introduces a server which is used as a surrogate for water distribution systems. In addition, this paper presents a case study of two malicious attacks to demonstrate how the testbed can easily monitor and control any automatised processes, and also to show how malicious attacks can disrupt supervised processes.