Using simulation platform to analyze radio modem security in SCADA

Radio modems are the most common long-range communication equipments in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems such as water treatment plants and petrochemical factories. However, since there are lack of security mechanisms in radio modems, many traditional cyber attacks can have an impact on the data transmission via radio modems. In this paper, a simulation platform based on radio modems is built. And many attacks, e.g. communication jam, data eavesdropping and tamper as well as DOS attack, are carried out in this platform to test the security of radio modem. Experimental results indicate that there is something wrong in data transmission in SCADA systems when facing these cyber attacks, which means that some security measures should be applied to protect radio modems.