Server
Data Acquisition Server
A server that polls field devices and normalises data for supervisory and historian consumption.
High criticalityLevel 2 – Level 3
What it does
Maintains device drivers, polling schedules and tag mappings.
Typically locatedSite operations zone.
At a glance
PurdueLevel 2 – Level 3
CategoryServer
Protocolsmodbus-tcp, dnp3, opc-ua
Talks toControllers, SCADA, Historian
Common vendorsAVEVA, Kepware, Inductive Automation
Why should I care?
Data Acquisition Server sits at Level 2 – Level 3. Compromise here is not just a data problem — it changes what the physical process does or what operators can see and control.
Common security problems
- Broad reachability to devices
- Driver credentials stored in configuration
- Rarely patched
If it is compromised
- Mass device access and falsified data upstream
What to monitor
- Tag/driver configuration changes
- New device targets
- Service account use
How to defend it
- Segment as a control-zone server
- Protect configuration files
- Change control on tag databases
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