Customized PKI for SCADA System

Abstract

Security of SCADA (supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) has become a challenging issue today because of its connectivity with the outside world and remote access to the system. One major challenge in the SCADA systems is securing the data over the communication channel. PKI (public key infrastructure) is a well known framework for securing the communication. In SCADA system, due to limited bandwidth and rare communications among some RTUs (Remote Terminal Units), there is a need of customization of general PKI which can reduce the openness of Public Key, frequent transfer of certificates and reduction in DOS (Denial of Service) attacks at MTUs (Master Terminal Units) and RTUs. This paper intends to address the issues of securing data over communication channel in the constrained environment and presents the novel solutions pivoted on key distribution and key management schemes. This paper also presents a set of innovative methods of multicast and broadcast of messages in SCADA system.