1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:01,290 In this lesson, 2 00:00:01,290 --> 00:00:03,600 we're going to discuss industrial control systems 3 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,510 and supervisory control and data acquisition systems, 4 00:00:06,510 --> 00:00:08,940 known as ICS and SCADA. 5 00:00:08,940 --> 00:00:11,340 In general, most of us work in IT, 6 00:00:11,340 --> 00:00:13,200 which is information technology. 7 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:14,580 Now, information technology 8 00:00:14,580 --> 00:00:16,440 includes our standard Windows computers, 9 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:17,910 our servers, our networks, 10 00:00:17,910 --> 00:00:20,250 our cloud platforms, and things like that. 11 00:00:20,250 --> 00:00:22,470 When we start talking about ICS and SCADA, though, 12 00:00:22,470 --> 00:00:26,190 we're moving into the world of OT, operational technology. 13 00:00:26,190 --> 00:00:28,683 Now, operational technology is a communications network 14 00:00:28,683 --> 00:00:31,770 that is designed to implement an industrial control system 15 00:00:31,770 --> 00:00:33,270 rather than our traditional business 16 00:00:33,270 --> 00:00:35,130 and data networking systems. 17 00:00:35,130 --> 00:00:36,990 When we're dealing with ICS and SCADA, 18 00:00:36,990 --> 00:00:39,150 we're not going to be focused on end user machines 19 00:00:39,150 --> 00:00:41,190 or Windows 11 workstation, for example, 20 00:00:41,190 --> 00:00:42,720 sitting on our networks. 21 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,220 Instead, with OT, 22 00:00:44,220 --> 00:00:46,200 we're going to be using technology and computers 23 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,090 do something in the physical world 24 00:00:48,090 --> 00:00:49,560 like open or shut a valve 25 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,570 like you might do in a manufacturing plant, 26 00:00:51,570 --> 00:00:54,000 create power generation in an electrical power plant, 27 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,790 or turn lights on or off, and things like that. 28 00:00:56,790 --> 00:00:58,770 Now, when you look at operational technology, 29 00:00:58,770 --> 00:00:59,850 it does look different 30 00:00:59,850 --> 00:01:02,670 than our other typical information technology networks. 31 00:01:02,670 --> 00:01:04,950 For example, here's what OT looks like 32 00:01:04,950 --> 00:01:07,620 with a big cabinet with dials and gauges and buttons 33 00:01:07,620 --> 00:01:10,050 that reference that is happening in the real world. 34 00:01:10,050 --> 00:01:11,790 If I want to open or shut a different valve 35 00:01:11,790 --> 00:01:13,590 or turn on or turn off a different pump, 36 00:01:13,590 --> 00:01:15,450 I would push the buttons on that diagram 37 00:01:15,450 --> 00:01:16,530 in front of the cabinet 38 00:01:16,530 --> 00:01:18,600 instead of something like using a Windows machine 39 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,960 and using commands like start open valve, pressing Enter. 40 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:24,270 Now, this isn't to say you can't connect a Windows machine 41 00:01:24,270 --> 00:01:26,100 and use them as a digital interface 42 00:01:26,100 --> 00:01:28,320 into the world of OT because you can, 43 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:30,360 but in general, when you think of OT, 44 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,010 I want you to be thinking about technology 45 00:01:32,010 --> 00:01:34,050 that interacts with the real world. 46 00:01:34,050 --> 00:01:36,660 A lot of operational technology can just be done 47 00:01:36,660 --> 00:01:38,970 in a manufacturing plant using systems like this, 48 00:01:38,970 --> 00:01:41,280 and you don't even need to have a regular computer. 49 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:43,170 But if you want to use a Windows computer 50 00:01:43,170 --> 00:01:45,330 and control these operational technology networks, 51 00:01:45,330 --> 00:01:48,450 you can do that and you can integrate IT with OT. 52 00:01:48,450 --> 00:01:50,460 But again, you don't have to. 53 00:01:50,460 --> 00:01:52,410 Now, in the world of operational technology, 54 00:01:52,410 --> 00:01:54,300 we have two main types of systems, 55 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:55,950 we have industrial control systems 56 00:01:55,950 --> 00:01:59,010 and supervisory control and data acquisition systems. 57 00:01:59,010 --> 00:02:01,200 First, we have industrial control systems. 58 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,200 Now, an industrial control system, also known as ICS, 59 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,200 provides the mechanisms for workflow and process automation 60 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,419 by controlling machinery using embedded devices, 61 00:02:09,419 --> 00:02:10,380 that are designed to perform 62 00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:12,420 a specific and dedicated function. 63 00:02:12,420 --> 00:02:15,270 ICS is heavily used to control real-world devices 64 00:02:15,270 --> 00:02:16,560 and critical infrastructure. 65 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,050 Things like power suppliers, water suppliers, 66 00:02:19,050 --> 00:02:21,090 healthcare services, telecommunication, 67 00:02:21,090 --> 00:02:22,950 and national security services. 68 00:02:22,950 --> 00:02:25,290 If you interconnect multiple ICSs together, 69 00:02:25,290 --> 00:02:28,890 you can actually create a distributed control system or DCS. 70 00:02:28,890 --> 00:02:31,170 Now, when you're dealing with industrial control systems, 71 00:02:31,170 --> 00:02:33,630 you have to prioritize availability and integrity 72 00:02:33,630 --> 00:02:35,310 over confidentiality. 73 00:02:35,310 --> 00:02:36,540 Now, in the IT world, 74 00:02:36,540 --> 00:02:38,850 we usually focus on the CIA triad 75 00:02:38,850 --> 00:02:40,500 and we start thinking about that all three things 76 00:02:40,500 --> 00:02:41,460 are really important 77 00:02:41,460 --> 00:02:43,680 with confidentiality being a strong contender 78 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:44,820 for first place. 79 00:02:44,820 --> 00:02:46,890 But in the world of operational technology, 80 00:02:46,890 --> 00:02:49,110 confidentiality is actually the least important 81 00:02:49,110 --> 00:02:50,490 of the three components. 82 00:02:50,490 --> 00:02:51,960 Availability is paramount, 83 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,030 and it's that way for a good reason. 84 00:02:54,030 --> 00:02:56,340 Let's think about the purpose of operational technology 85 00:02:56,340 --> 00:02:59,040 and what it was originally designed to do in manufacturing. 86 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:00,960 It was all about maximizing the efficiency 87 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,610 of our manufacturing plants. 88 00:03:02,610 --> 00:03:04,920 After all, anytime that plant was down, 89 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:06,870 the organization is not making money, 90 00:03:06,870 --> 00:03:09,510 so for them, availability is everything. 91 00:03:09,510 --> 00:03:11,850 Also, back then, the manufacturing plants 92 00:03:11,850 --> 00:03:13,170 didn't connect to the internet, 93 00:03:13,170 --> 00:03:14,070 and the entire network 94 00:03:14,070 --> 00:03:15,990 was located within the walls of the factory, 95 00:03:15,990 --> 00:03:18,060 so we had that physical boundary 96 00:03:18,060 --> 00:03:20,220 to provide us some level of confidentiality. 97 00:03:20,220 --> 00:03:22,860 This meant that confidentiality wasn't a big deal 98 00:03:22,860 --> 00:03:23,970 and we didn't have to think about 99 00:03:23,970 --> 00:03:25,890 having to build that into our networks. 100 00:03:25,890 --> 00:03:27,420 This is because we trusted the people 101 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:29,280 who were working in our factories. 102 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,100 Now, let's take a look at another good example of ICS 103 00:03:32,100 --> 00:03:34,620 that's used on a daily basis all over the world. 104 00:03:34,620 --> 00:03:36,780 Here we have a US Navy warship. 105 00:03:36,780 --> 00:03:38,070 This is a great example 106 00:03:38,070 --> 00:03:39,990 because it contains multiple ICSs 107 00:03:39,990 --> 00:03:41,520 that are focused on different things 108 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,670 because essentially that ship is a city at sea. 109 00:03:44,670 --> 00:03:46,620 Now, remember when you hear ICS, 110 00:03:46,620 --> 00:03:48,180 this is essentially just a network 111 00:03:48,180 --> 00:03:49,950 that manages embedded devices. 112 00:03:49,950 --> 00:03:51,750 On that ship, there's a power plant 113 00:03:51,750 --> 00:03:53,100 that creates the electricity. 114 00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:54,450 There's an equivalent of a factory 115 00:03:54,450 --> 00:03:56,580 with all the machines needed to create thrust 116 00:03:56,580 --> 00:03:59,160 and turn that propeller and move the ship through the water. 117 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:00,720 There's a telecommunications backbone 118 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,510 for voice and video that's going throughout the entire ship. 119 00:04:03,510 --> 00:04:06,090 There's waste and water treatment facilities on board. 120 00:04:06,090 --> 00:04:07,830 Everything those sailors need to survive 121 00:04:07,830 --> 00:04:10,020 for months at a time is on that ship, 122 00:04:10,020 --> 00:04:13,530 and it's all being controlled by ICS and embedded devices. 123 00:04:13,530 --> 00:04:16,230 Now, to interconnect all these industrial control systems, 124 00:04:16,230 --> 00:04:20,040 ICS uses a communication technology known as fieldbus. 125 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,980 Now, fieldbus is a digital serial data communication 126 00:04:22,980 --> 00:04:25,320 that is going to be used in operational technology networks 127 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,300 to link different programmable logic controllers, 128 00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:29,130 or PLCs, together. 129 00:04:29,130 --> 00:04:30,960 A programmable logic controller 130 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,490 is a type of digital computer 131 00:04:32,490 --> 00:04:33,840 that's used in industrial settings 132 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,000 to enable automation and assembly lines, 133 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,440 autonomous field operations, 134 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,690 robotics, and other applications. 135 00:04:39,690 --> 00:04:42,300 PLCs are going to be interconnected using fieldbus 136 00:04:42,300 --> 00:04:44,640 with sensors, input and output devices 137 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,220 to connect the real world with the digital world. 138 00:04:47,220 --> 00:04:49,650 These PLCs can be programmed to conduct an action 139 00:04:49,650 --> 00:04:52,350 based on an input it receives from a given sensor. 140 00:04:52,350 --> 00:04:54,150 Now, to program these PLCs, 141 00:04:54,150 --> 00:04:57,600 we're going to use an HMI, or human-machine interface. 142 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,540 A human-machine interface can be a local control panel 143 00:05:00,540 --> 00:05:03,540 or a piece of software running on a regular computer. 144 00:05:03,540 --> 00:05:05,220 The human-machine interface is going to act 145 00:05:05,220 --> 00:05:06,840 as the input to the PLCs 146 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:09,090 and the output for the entire system. 147 00:05:09,090 --> 00:05:11,460 This way, a human can quickly see and monitor 148 00:05:11,460 --> 00:05:14,160 what that system is doing at any given time. 149 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:15,870 After all, as a human operator, 150 00:05:15,870 --> 00:05:17,970 I need to be able to see what the machine is doing 151 00:05:17,970 --> 00:05:19,680 by reading gauges or other screens 152 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:21,750 as well as to be able to give input to that machine 153 00:05:21,750 --> 00:05:22,980 for what I want it to do. 154 00:05:22,980 --> 00:05:25,320 And I do this by pushing buttons, turning knobs, 155 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,810 entering keystrokes, or even using a touch screen. 156 00:05:27,810 --> 00:05:29,430 For example, if I worked in a hospital 157 00:05:29,430 --> 00:05:31,170 as a radiography technician, 158 00:05:31,170 --> 00:05:32,910 I might need to take some X-rays. 159 00:05:32,910 --> 00:05:34,560 I can have a human machine interface 160 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,540 that's a flat panel screen, and I can touch it 161 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:38,610 and tell the machine what I want it to do. 162 00:05:38,610 --> 00:05:41,220 This way, the panel can take that information from me, 163 00:05:41,220 --> 00:05:43,410 send it to the machine, and then take the X-ray 164 00:05:43,410 --> 00:05:45,870 in the case of this radiography machine. 165 00:05:45,870 --> 00:05:48,630 This allows the ICS and the PLCs connected to it 166 00:05:48,630 --> 00:05:49,770 to form a control loop, 167 00:05:49,770 --> 00:05:52,110 and the whole process of automation is going to be governed 168 00:05:52,110 --> 00:05:54,120 by some kind of control server. 169 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,310 Now, the second type of OT we need to talk about 170 00:05:56,310 --> 00:05:59,190 is supervisory control and data acquisition systems, 171 00:05:59,190 --> 00:06:00,870 which is known as SCADA. 172 00:06:00,870 --> 00:06:02,460 Now, technically, SCADA is a type 173 00:06:02,460 --> 00:06:03,990 of industrial control system, 174 00:06:03,990 --> 00:06:05,670 and it's used to manage large scale 175 00:06:05,670 --> 00:06:07,350 multi-site devices and equipment 176 00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:10,680 spread over a geographic region from your host computer. 177 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:12,390 Now, this may be a bit confusing at first, 178 00:06:12,390 --> 00:06:14,040 so I want you to remember it this way. 179 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:15,810 If you hear the term ICS, 180 00:06:15,810 --> 00:06:18,180 we're talking about a single plant or system. 181 00:06:18,180 --> 00:06:19,950 If we're talking about a DCS, 182 00:06:19,950 --> 00:06:22,200 this is a small connection of ICS systems, 183 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,230 but still normally in one building or one facility. 184 00:06:25,230 --> 00:06:27,150 When you start moving into the world of SCADA, 185 00:06:27,150 --> 00:06:30,030 we're talking about many different ICS and DCS plants 186 00:06:30,030 --> 00:06:32,880 that are all interconnected through a wide area network. 187 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,560 Because of the wide reach of SCADA, 188 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:36,960 it is normally going to be operated with a piece of software 189 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,050 that runs on an ordinary system like Windows or Linux. 190 00:06:40,050 --> 00:06:41,970 This SCADA system can then gather data 191 00:06:41,970 --> 00:06:44,250 and manage it across all the different plant devices 192 00:06:44,250 --> 00:06:45,450 and all the different equipment 193 00:06:45,450 --> 00:06:48,060 that has embedded PLCs in those plants. 194 00:06:48,060 --> 00:06:50,190 To interconnect these plants in the SCADA network, 195 00:06:50,190 --> 00:06:52,590 you're going to need a wide area network connection, 196 00:06:52,590 --> 00:06:54,180 which can be either cellular, 197 00:06:54,180 --> 00:06:55,980 microwave, satellite, fiber, 198 00:06:55,980 --> 00:06:57,960 or even a VPN-based LAN. 199 00:06:57,960 --> 00:06:59,520 You can really use whatever you want, 200 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:00,990 just like when you're designing your connections 201 00:07:00,990 --> 00:07:01,980 for your other networks, 202 00:07:01,980 --> 00:07:03,510 but you need to make sure you're linking back 203 00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:06,810 all those field devices to the central SCADA server. 204 00:07:06,810 --> 00:07:08,970 A good example of a large scale SCADA network 205 00:07:08,970 --> 00:07:10,110 is a smart meter system 206 00:07:10,110 --> 00:07:12,480 used by many electric companies around the world. 207 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:14,640 At my home, for example, we have a smart meter 208 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:16,530 that was installed by the electric company. 209 00:07:16,530 --> 00:07:18,150 Each month, instead of them having to come out 210 00:07:18,150 --> 00:07:19,140 and read my meter, 211 00:07:19,140 --> 00:07:20,790 that meter sends them the information 212 00:07:20,790 --> 00:07:22,050 over a cellular connection 213 00:07:22,050 --> 00:07:24,360 and they now know how much they need to bill me. 214 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:26,220 Additionally, they can connect to my meter 215 00:07:26,220 --> 00:07:27,840 and monitor not just my usage, 216 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:29,550 but also my up and down status 217 00:07:29,550 --> 00:07:30,990 because all the houses in my area 218 00:07:30,990 --> 00:07:32,730 are part of this SCADA network. 219 00:07:32,730 --> 00:07:34,710 So, by having this SCADA network, 220 00:07:34,710 --> 00:07:36,420 they no longer have to pay meter readers 221 00:07:36,420 --> 00:07:37,980 to go out and manually check the meters 222 00:07:37,980 --> 00:07:40,167 of every house in the city every single month, 223 00:07:40,167 --> 00:07:42,540 and instead, they simply use the cellular chip 224 00:07:42,540 --> 00:07:44,640 that's in there to take a reading once a month 225 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,310 and send it back over the cellular network as a text message 226 00:07:47,310 --> 00:07:49,710 or other data format to their SCADA server. 227 00:07:49,710 --> 00:07:51,210 It collates that information, 228 00:07:51,210 --> 00:07:52,740 passes it onto the billing system, 229 00:07:52,740 --> 00:07:54,570 and then I get a bill with the amount due 230 00:07:54,570 --> 00:07:56,570 for the electric that I used that month.