Supervisory Control or Data Acquisition?

About this interactive

On the lesson's car assembly line, robots first worked on their own. What one robot did or found could affect the next, so control was centralized. That is SCADA, supervisory control and data acquisition. It is a two-way street. Supervisory control sends instructions out to manipulate the equipment. Data acquisition receives information back, from sensors and from the equipment, so the system can decide and give better instructions. Its core parts are the servers and software doing the controlling, the network and protocols carrying messages both ways, sensors reporting what is happening, and controllers on the floor, RTUs or PLCs, that deliver the instructions to the equipment. To sort a card, ask which way the message travels: out to the equipment, or back to the system.

What you'll learn

Tell supervisory control (commands sent out to the equipment) from data acquisition (data received back from sensors and controllers) in a SCADA system

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+

3.1 Compare and contrast security implications of different architecture models.

Key terms

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition: An architecture in which a central server and its software gather readings from sensors and field units across a plant, pipeline or region and send commands back to them, used in critical infrastructure, where a security failure can damage physical equipment.
Supervisory Control: The function of a SCADA system that sends commands and instructions to field devices and equipment to direct their operations.
Data Acquisition: The function of a SCADA system that collects sensor and device data from the field to inform control decisions.
Remote Terminal Unit: A field device, often at an unstaffed site far from any building, such as a pipeline station or substation, that collects sensor readings and carries out commands for a SCADA system over a long-distance link and can keep running its equipment on its own; compromising one can give an attacker control of physical infrastructure.
Programmable Logic Controller: A rugged industrial computer that runs stored instructions to automate machinery and processes on a plant floor, reading its sensors and switching equipment in response; exploiting one can cause physical damage.

Topics

Interactive Streak Sort

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