SCADA risk awareness, threats and breaches

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://net-security.org/secworld.php?id=16574

SANS announced results of its 2014 Survey on control system security, in
which 268 IT professionals answered questions about their overall risk
awareness, trends in threats and breaches, and effective means to mitigate
vulnerabilities with regard to SCADA/ICS.

"Attacks on control systems are on the rise," says Matt Luallen, SANS
Analyst and author of this survey. "Budgets for cybersecurity in SCADA ICS
environments remain very slim, and organizations continue to be dependent
on limited resources and staffing to detect breaches and attacks."

In the year since SANS' last survey on this topic, the number of entities
with identified or suspected security breaches has increased from 28% to
nearly 40%. Only 9% can say with surety that they haven't been breached.

Organizations want to be able to protect their systems and assets, which
include computer systems, networks, embedded controllers, control system
communication protocols and various physical assets. Respondents also noted
they strive to protect public safety; increase leadership risk awareness;
and expand controls pertaining to asset identification, communication
channels and centralized monitoring.

Still, many organizations do not or cannot collect data from some of the
most critical SCADA and ICS assets, and many depend on trained staff, not
tools, to detect issues. Alarmingly, according to the survey, 16% have no
process in place to detect vulnerabilities.

Interestingly, the survey noted a merging of ICS security and IT security.
"Respondents indicated that ICS security is being performed by specialists
reporting to both engineering and IT," says Derek Harp, business operations
lead for ICS programs at SANS. "This places a real priority on
cross-departmental coordination, effectively bridging competencies and
building (as well as assessing) skill in an organized manner."

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