Security Flaws Found in Smart Meters

--Security Flaws Found in Smart Meters (courtesy SANS.org)
(26th March 2010)
A security researcher, Joshua Wright of InGuardians, has identified a
number of security vulnerabilities with the smart meters a number of US
utilities are rolling out to their customers. The vulnerabilities,
which could be exploited remotely via wireless technology or by
physically tampering with the meter, include the ability to ramp up
peoples' bills and to shut off their power. The research, which was
commissioned by a three power utility companies, discovered
vulnerabilities in all five of the makers of meters submitted for
testing. So far eight million smart power meters have been installed
within the United States with that number reaching 60 million by 2020.

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Yes, not for fear of hackers but because maybe now we'll actually be able to directly access the data ourselves.

Some interesting reading & further info at http://www.patrickmcdaniel.org/research.html
Scroll down to the "SmartGrid Security" section and follow the PDFs.

One quick article I read actually implied that the security flaws were great enough that a hacker could access the larger energy grid through the smart meters. It's bad enough that someone could screw with your power and/or billing, but what a disaster it would be if they could control the entire energy grid! I'm not sure if the implications are correct, but it isn't too far fetched IMHO.

Monk; Your links don't seem to work. All I see is a login and password screen.

BLH said:

Monk; Your links don't seem to work. All I see is a login and password screen.

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Sorry - Fixed


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sic0048 said:

One quick article I read actually implied that the security flaws were great enough that a hacker could access the larger energy grid through the smart meters. It's bad enough that someone could screw with your power and/or billing, but what a disaster it would be if they could control the entire energy grid! I'm not sure if the implications are correct, but it isn't too far fetched IMHO.

Click to expand...

That is what they are saying - (kill your power / mess with your bill) I fixed the link to the article.

Monk said:

sic0048 said:

One quick article I read actually implied that the security flaws were great enough that a hacker could access the larger energy grid through the smart meters. It's bad enough that someone could screw with your power and/or billing, but what a disaster it would be if they could control the entire energy grid! I'm not sure if the implications are correct, but it isn't too far fetched IMHO.

Click to expand...

That is what they are saying - (kill your power / mess with your bill) I fixed the link to the article.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that AP article is the same one I read on another site.