Industrial Control Systems (ICS/SCADA)
Computer systems that monitor and control physical industrial processes like power grids, water treatment, and factories.
Industrial Control Systems (ICS), which include SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, are the computer systems that monitor and control physical industrial processes: power grids, water treatment plants, oil pipelines, and factory production lines. Unlike typical IT systems, they directly control real-world equipment, so a failure can have physical, not just digital, consequences.
ICS/SCADA environments were historically isolated from the internet, but increasing connectivity for remote monitoring has expanded their attack surface↗ significantly. Securing them requires specialized approaches, since these systems often run older software that can't simply be patched or rebooted without risking a real-world outage.