Low-Latency Cryptographic Protection for SCADA Communications

Abstract. Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are real-time process control systems that are widely deployed throughout critical infrastructure sectors including power, gas, oil, and water. However, SCADA networks generally have little protection from the rising danger of cyber attack. A retrofit solution to protect existing SCADA communications links must assure the integrity of commands and responses that are typically transmitted over serial lines at speeds from 300 to 19200 bits per second, while introducing minimal additional latency into the real-time SCADA traffic. This paper describes the key aspects of a cryptographic protocol for retrofit SCADA link protection that leverages the Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC) transmitted by existing SCADA equipment to achieve strong integrity while introducing minimal latency. The protocol is based on a new position embedding encryption mode which, for a b-bit block cipher, ensures that any unauthentic message an advers...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: ACNS
• Authors: Andrew K. Wright, John A. Kinast, Joe McCarty
• Keywords: ACNS 2004, Cryptography, Real-time Scada Traffic, SCADA, SCADA Link Protection