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Cyber Security in the Water
Sector
Author: Brandon Khoury
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Lingfeng Wang
Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science
Research Objectives
• Highlight importance of cyber security in
water sector
• Review historical progression
• Intrusion path analysis
• Means of risk mitigation and assessment
Background
• Vital to the daily function of the general
population
• Small amount of water plants provide service
to over three quarters of U.S. population [1]
• Industry mission sight includes reliable and
affordable water services
Background cont.
• Industrial automation technology
• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
networks
• Industrial Control Systems (ICS)
• Components
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Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)
Human Machine Interface (HMI)
Server/Client communication protocol
Network connectivity
Background cont.
Sensor/Telemetry Site Growth vs. Time
Source: See references [5]
Methodology
• Open ended methodology
• Deductive
• General sources/inquires lead to more specifically
focused research
• Inductive
• Specific technological factor leads to hypothesis on
general vulnerability
• Confirm with research
• Synthesis of data – intrusion path analysis
Theoretical Intrusion Path
Intrusion Path cont.
• Denial of Service (DoS) scenario
• Affects integrity (ability to function correctly and detect
error/malicious activity) of system components [4]
• Capitalizes on water sector and SCADA
weaknesses
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Lack of resources for incident detection
Intrinsically archaic network architectures
Complex hacking code and lack of anti-virus software
Un-encrypted communication protocol, MODBUS for
example
Risk Mitigation
 Technical:
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Multi-Factor Authentication
Virus protection software/intrusion detection
Transaction logging (MODBUS) [2]
Network segmentation
 Process/Organizational:
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Maintain IT staff
Risk mitigation goals
Performance metrics [5]
Response/disaster recovery plan [3]
Risk Mitigation cont.
Example of simple network segmentation architecture
Conclusion
• Why is this important?
• Water industry designed without security as a primary
concern
• Technological advances put sector even more at risk
• An attack could endanger public health
• Inhibit primary industrial functions that required water
• Upgrading to adequate security is a large task
» Time, Money, Manpower
» Constant quality control
Questions
• Questions?
• Thank you!
References
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[1] C. Copeland and B. Cody, “Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water
Infrastructure Sector,” Congr. Res. Serv. Rep., pp. 1–6, 2010.
[2] E. J. Byres, M. Franz, and D. Miller, “The Use of Attack Trees in Assessing
Vulnerabilities in SCADA Systems.”
[3] S. Panguluri, W. Phillips, and P. Ellis, “Cyber Security: Protecting Water and
Wastewater Infrastructure,” Handb. Water Wastewater Syst. Prot., pp. 285–318,
2011.
[4] S. Amin, X. Litrico, S. Sastry, and A. M. Bayen, “Cyber Security of Water
SCADA Systems—Part I: Analysis and Experimentation of Stealthy Deception
Attacks,” pp. 1–8, 2012.
[5] Water Sector Coordinating Council Cyber Security Working Group,
“Roadmap to Secure
Control Systems in the Water Sector,” pp.5–37, 2008.