Smart enough? This image shows the interior of a smart grid meter tested by Mike Davis of IOActive.
Mike Davis
The technology could open up all kinds of opportunities for attackers, researchers say.
The hurried deployment of smart-grid technology could leave critical infrastructure and private homes vulnerable to hackers. Security experts at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas last week warned that smart-grid hardware and software lacks the necessary safeguards to protect against meddling.
Utilities are being encouraged to install this smart-grid technology--network-connected devices to help intelligently monitor and manage power usage--through funding from the U.S. government's 2009 stimulus package. The smart systems could save energy and automatically adjust usage within homes and businesses. Customers might, for example, agree to let a utility remotely turn off their air conditioners at times of peak use in exchange for a discount.
But to receive the stimulus money, utilities will have to install new devices across their entire customer base quickly. Security experts say that this could lead to problems down the road--as-yet-unknown vulnerabilities in hardware and software could open up new ways for attackers to manipulate equipment and take control of the energy supply.
Smart-grid deployments involve installing smart meters in homes and businesses across a utility's coverage area. These meters can communicate with the utility and with other networked devices--usually via a wireless network of some type. Some ways to hijack this type of equipment have already been revealed. Last year, Mike Davis, a senior security consultant at IOActive, created a piece of software that could spread automatically between smart grid hardware in different homes. The software would then be capable of shutting equipment down.
The security of the smart grid was a major topic at Black Hat. The conference brings together researchers from academia, industry, government, and the hacking underground.
Jonathan Pollet, founder and principal consultant at Red Tiger Security, a firm that analyzes the security of critical infrastructure, says the smart grid could be vulnerable to a range of attacks. Customers might simply figure out, for example, how to lower their electricity bills by manipulating how much energy their meters say they're using. But he says large-scale attacks may also be possible. A serious vulnerability might make it possible to shut down the power supply to an entire city.
The devices being deployed by utilities are meant to last for 15 to 20 years. It may be difficult and costly to apply security patches to these distributed systems, especially because they can't easily be taken out of commission for routine maintenance.
But some consumers, concerned about rising prices and privacy, would rather their electricity meters stayed dumb.
Attackers could manipulate poorly protected data to make money or cause blackouts.
One researcher shows how your house's power could be shut down remotely, but the threat is only theoretical--for now.
Give me a break.
How many hackers are out there who would be interested in doing this?
Even if it was on the web, the software for these would just develop as problems arise. Since they are connected to the cell towers they could be upgraded on a continual basis.
Plus, even if someone hacked one, the electric company knows when there is a sharp decrease in power usage for a home.
I am not saying they should not take security seriously, I am just saying that fear of hacking should not keep the electric companies in the 19th century.....
Could a reliance on smart grids place America's national security at threat, if hackers attacked one piece of our nations infrastructure?
Smart grids are suppose to allow utilities to regulate their consumers demand by turning off pieces of equipment. If utilities become dependent on smart grids, and hackers turned on and or off at once all the air conditioners and other pieces of equipment controlled by smart grid devices, they would be able to destabilize local power grids, resulting in power plant frequency variations that would cause massive blackouts all across the country
Customers equipment may be damaged by frequently turning equipment on/off, and decreased economic productivity can damage our nations economy, which our nations national security is dependent on.
Smart grids would be a cyber warfare target to weaken the United States.
Power utilities need generation capacity and plain old fashioned power lines (and high capacity phase-free DC interconnects) to stabilize power generation and availability. Fast response storage would be an ideal addition.
However, the money will be spent instead on allowing individual homes to be turned off in lieu of true 24/7 reliability. This is a step backwards, a lowering of the standard of living.
Our grandparents will have had more reliable electric service than our children.
Smart meters are going to be executing power rationing more frequently as generation capacity changes from reliable coal to unreliable "green".
Buy a generator, that's what they do in the third world.
We can not let actual facts get in the way of PROGRESS! Onward and upward, comrades!
The electricity grid is run by private enterprise, that prefers to not have excess capacity. Instead they believe having a starvation policy will work to their coffers advantage.
The brown-outs and blackouts are due to backups and such being removed because of costs.
I firmly believe all utilities should be 100% government run. Not be smart, except localy smart on a house per house basis. As much independence as can be achieved would in the long run help us.
Until the world becomes a little more friendly you can expect utilities to be high on the list of targets.
No amount of law from the USA to other countries,like they are trying to do..lol, is going to change that.
The other way to look at it is that green energy generation at the moment needs a little helping hand and is not ready for prime-time energy guzzlers in the USA.
I personlly think people should take responsibility for their devices, rather than a totalitarian state. Maybe they wanted the aircon on before they arrrived back to cool the house ready for them. Maybe they wanted the tv left on while they were away to ward of invaders. Maybe the springler system was on so the plants get a water.
How to deal with Utilities that may try to skimp on security.
Governments primary responsibility is to protect the people. Because consumers have little if any choice in who provides electrical distribution, and the importance of energy to our lives, people need to require that governments ensure utilities can reliably provide power, and not coerce people into a dangerous technology that could threaten our national economy or security.
Security comes before every other concern, because with out it, nothing else is of importance.
This is a really bad idea. Tell all of the units to turn off for about five minutes, and then tell them all to kick on at the same time? Instant blackout. Load balancing is based on the idea that this doesn't all happen at once. Even when the utilities can plan for it (like halftime at the Superbowl) it still gets hairy. Having someone do it to you unexpectedly? Crash.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
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