Information security of automated systems: types of threats and methods of prevention

Before disclosing the topic " Information Security of Automated Systems", we will determine what systems can be considered automated. With every decade, our civilization is becoming more and more technological. The need for quality products is increasing, along with the growing number of routine jobs and responsibilities. Automated systems are called to deal with them. They control the manufacture of certain products or certain processes. The result is always identical to the standard. Such systems are equipped with industrial and financial enterprises, they control virtually all processes that require automation. Of course, through these systems there is a mass of important information that must be protected. Information security of automated systems is the main problem of large enterprises.

Threats to which information systems are exposed, have their own classification. Most often, the purpose of cyber-attacks is confidential data, for example, the details of financial enterprises. Passing through local networks, this information becomes vulnerable, however, its extraction is available only to high-class specialists. Has its weak point and hardware-software part of the system. The company's information security will not be respected if an attacker destroys the necessary program, adds an extra element to it, or changes the order in which the important data is located. Information that is accessible only to a particular person or process is also subject to the threat.

The above problems can arise in several cases. Sometimes they are caused by such natural factors as flood, fire, hurricane and other natural disasters. Sometimes the faults that occur in the system when the data is lost are to blame. However, most often the problems of information security arise through the fault of a person. Such threats are passive or active. If a person has harmed the system unintentionally, for example, was mistaken in programming, then the problem is considered passive. An active threat becomes when the harm is done intentionally, for example, the unique information is stolen or destroyed. As a rule, such actions are committed for the sake of money. To harm the system, a person can remotely by inserting a malicious program into it (script, code, etc.).

How is the information security of automated systems preserved? There are several methods for protecting information. The most common method was to create obstacles, when a path to an attacker is blocked by a set of passwords or a "security" program. Secure the system by controlling access to it. Such management consists of:

• Identification of resources, personnel and users;
• Verification of the authenticity of the object or person (compliance with the established pattern or regulations);
• Registration of all calls to protected resources;
• Response to attempts at any illegal actions or unauthorized entry into the system.

Information security of automated systems is provided by several other methods - disguise, regulation, coercion and motivation. All these methods make this type of system virtually invulnerable to cyber pirates, which positively affects their work.