Geospatial Utilities Location Identification

Utility system components that comprise the nations Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems require location identification.

SCADA systems internationally and nationally comprised the following systems:

 

  • Cable TV Systems

  • Electrical Utilities and Distribution Systems

  • Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Facilities and Distribution Systems

  • Public Parking Garages

  • Parking Meters

  • Roadway Signs and Lights

  • Satellite TV Facilities

  • Sewage Treatment Facilities and Distribution Systems

  • Telecom Networks and Distribution Systems

  • Telephone Networks and Distribution Systems

  • Traffic Cameras

  • Traffic Signaling Systems

  • Traffic Video Cameras

  • Water Supply Facilities and Distribution Systems

  • Wireless Systems

  • Railway Transportation Facilities

  • Airport Transportation Facilities

  • Marine Transportation Facilities

 

Recently, the security of SCADA-based systems has come into question as they are increasingly seen as extremely vulnerable to cyberwarfare/cyberterrorism attacks on several fronts.

 

 

In particular, security researchers are concerned about:

  • The lack of concern about security and authentication in the design, deployment and operation of existing SCADA networks.
  • The mistaken belief that SCADA systems have the benefit of security by obscurity through the use of specialized protocols and proprietary interfaces.
  • The mistaken belief that SCADA networks are secure because they are supposedly physically secured.
  • The mistaken belief that SCADA networks are secure because they are supposedly disconnected from the Internet.

Due to the mission-critical nature of a large number of SCADA systems, such attacks could, in a worst case scenario, cause massive financial losses through loss of data or actual physical destruction, misuse or theft, even loss of life, either directly or indirectly. Whether such concerns will cause a move away from the use of existing SCADA systems for mission-critical applications towards more secure architectures and configurations remains to be seen, given that at least some influential people in corporate and governmental circles believe that the benefits and lower initial costs of SCADA based systems still outweigh potential costs and risks.

GFI's GeocodeŽ increases the productivity in geospatial analysis, reduces the data overhead for transmission of geospatial information over telecommunication networks, enables the representation of a pinpoint location down to within 3 cm horizontally and 1 meter vertically, and enables better information security by eliminating the use of alpha text characters necessary for most decryption techniques.  

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