A Plausible Solution to SCADA Security Honeypot Systems

Abstract

The need to urgently address the security issues related to SCADA system remains high. Contrary to regular IT systems, most successful SCADA attacks can have serious consequences on the nation's economy, stability and, worse affect people's live directly. In this paper, we analyse the use of honey pot systems as a plausible solution to SCADA security problems. We start by analysing the threat landscape of SCADA systems and discuss the comparative differences between standard IT security and the required security for SCADA systems. After analysis of, various honey pots features in relation to SCADA security, we setup an experimental but realistic honey pot SCADA environment. We then test the suitability of honey pots in protecting SCADA systems and the efficiency of ``anti-honey pot'' techniques. Our results show, that when used properly, a high interaction honey pot can greatly enhance SCADA system security, and in some cases better than any other security system. We conclude by discussing our future work related to honey pots.