IMPROVING THE CYBERSECURITY OF SCADA SYSTEMS

This paper focuses on improving the cybersecurity of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, which play a critical role in managing industrial and critical infrastructure processes. Due to increasing connectivity and the integration of legacy systems with modern networks, SCADA systems have become attractive targets for cyberattacks, particularly Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. The study analyzes common cybersecurity measures used to protect SCADA systems, including network segmentation, firewalls, strong authentication mechanisms, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and secure communication protocols. Special attention is given to the operational principles and impacts of DoS attacks on SCADA environments. A simulation-based approach is employed to demonstrate a DoS attack against a SCADA system deployed in a virtual environment. Network traffic analysis is performed using the Wireshark tool to detect abnormal packet flows, while the Snort IDS/IPS is configured to identify and block malicious traffic in real time. The results show that the implemented IDS/IPS mechanisms effectively detect, mitigate, and prevent DoS attacks, significantly reducing their impact on system availability and resource consumption. The findings highlight the importance of layered security approaches and real-time monitoring tools in enhancing the resilience of SCADA systems against cyber threats. Keywords: SCADA systems, cybersecurity, Denial of Service (DoS), IDS/IPS, Wireshark, Snort, network security, critical infrastructure.