Electrical Transmission Network requires adequate ICT systems to perform control & data management, to remotely maintain, monitor, and operate portions of each critical infrastructure:

– ICT systems have a key relevance, as they represent the collector of data stream and the main instrument for power systems control and decision support
– Nowadays the electronic and information systems devoted to the control and supervision of transmission and distribution networks of electricity, gas and water, called Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA), are becoming more vulnerable to a new set of emerging threats.

In fact, the tighter interconnection between Control & Data Management System and other (traditional) ICT systems may result in increased vulnerability due potential threats for all the power system. Evolution of Control & Data Management System, that are moving away from the older, traditional and proprietary systems, shifted the attention from physical security to typical ICT issues, exposing them to a new family of threats with new unique characteristics, particularly important for resilience.

Furthermore, due to the market request of more efficient operations and cost reductions, use of ICT and remote control and maintenance practices have been increased over time, as well introduction of standard ICT component and OS within the SCADA systems that could create “grey areas” in the system, difficult to be identified and effectively protected.

Research on SCADA systems security conducted at British Columbia Institute of Technology, NIST and SANDIA Lab, RSE shows that use of TCP/IP and WEB technologies are potentially opening the automation and control systems to the cyber threats. This topic is the subjct of several USA amd EU initatives in EPCIP, FP7 research initiatives and national initatives.