Virtual Simulation Platform for Studying Hardware Trojan Vulnerabilities in SCADA Systems

Huntsville (Ala.)

Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are the primary technology used to automate our critical infrastructure and major industries in order to improve their efficiency. Their dependability is challenged by probable vulnerabilities in the core computing system. These vulnerabilities can be appear on both front (software) and back (hardware) ends of the computing system. While the software vulnerabilities are well researched and documented, the hardware threats are normally overlooked. However, with hardware-inclusive technological evolutions like Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet-of-Things, hardware vulnerabilities should be addressed appropriately. In this work, we propose a virtual experimental platform to study the effect of one such vulnerability, called hardware Trojans, on SCADA systems. Through this platform, a comprehensive run time analysis of hardware Trojan is accomplished and we show that even a timelimited attack can lead to destabilization of the SCADA system causing hazardous conditions. We demonstrate our platform using a virtual gas pipeline SCADA model.