SCADA-sandbox allows testing the impact of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure

Companies operating in the oil and gas industry now have at their disposal a SCADA security test laboratory for testing the impact of cyberattacks on their systems. The so-called Industrial Control System (ICS) Sandbox, based in Montreal, aims at simulating the real threats to critical infrastructure and finding ways to block them in real time.

ICS Sandbox is funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The laboratory includes 100 machines - servers, workstations, PLCs, sensors, electrical simulators, and commercial SCADA software.

It is worth noting that the Brazilian government intends to set up a similar organization.

Jose Fernandez, assistant professor of computer and software engineering at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, where the ICS Sandbox is located, said that experts blend SCADA-systems and malware and test their interaction in real time.

The researchers note that their special concern is not Stuxnet, but the more common malware and botnets, which are regularly targeting the SCADA-systems.