Posted on 07/29/2010 10:46:03 AM PDT by Palter
"Who controls the off switch?" by Ross Anderson and Shailendra Fuloria.
Abstract: We're about to acquire a significant new cybervulnerability. The world's energy utilities are starting to install hundreds of millions of 'smart meters' which contain a remote off switch. Its main purpose is to ensure that customers who default on their payments can be switched remotely to a prepay tariff; secondary purposes include supporting interruptible tariffs and implementing rolling power cuts at times of supply shortage.
The off switch creates information security problems of a kind, and on a scale, that the energy companies have not had to face before. From the viewpoint of a cyber attacker -- whether a hostile government agency, a terrorist organisation or even a militant environmental group -- the ideal attack on a target country is to interrupt its citizens' electricity supply. This is the cyber equivalent of a nuclear strike; when electricity stops, then pretty soon everything else does too. Until now, the only plausible ways to do that involved attacks on critical generation, transmission and distribution assets, which are increasingly well defended.
Smart meters change the game. The combination of commands that will cause meters to interrupt the supply, of applets and software upgrades that run in the meters, and of cryptographic keys that are used to authenticate these commands and software changes, create a new strategic vulnerability, which we discuss in this paper.
The two have another paper on the economics of smart meters. Blog post here.
Well, allegedy we can’t continue to keep our thermostats set at 72º. At the last rental residence I had, after smart metering was implemented, I received a notice, asking me if I would be willing to have my air conditioning shut of for 10 minutes out of every half hour, in order to ensure there wasn’t a high demand on the grid during the midday hours. It wasn’t yet mandatory, but if I committed to do so, it would cut out for ten minutes no matter what the inside temp was and that most “would only notice an increase of 2-4 degrees at most, barely noticable to the average user.”
Needless to say, I was displeased. This is unbelievable, and all made possible, through our “advanced” “smart metering.” What a joke! Wake up people, it’s coming...
Would it be possible to put a faraday cage around these commie boxes? For those who are unfamiliar with these, they are asimple metal screen that blocks ALL radio signals. Kind of like the screen on a screen door. Could easily disguised as something common around the house or build into something like a shade structure or porch roof.. Just a thought.
Take air conditioning for instance. Air-to-air air conditioning is far more efficient, when it's cooler outside, than when it's hot. It makes great sense to run the A/C at night, when it's cool, to pre-cool the house. That way, it's not necessary to run the A/C quite so much during the heat of the day — when the A/C is inefficient, and electricity demand is peaking.
If you were prohibited from cooling your house, beyond some arbitrary point, then you would actually be forced to use a less efficient solution.
I feel bad for the poor senior citizen who can't take the heat or cold during these "power interruptions".
Security on networked systems is always something that demands attention and good controls. I’m not sure it presents much of an increased risk here, though, as an attacker can still kill your power the old fashioned way... by cutting the wire.
One thing I really like about the new meters (I just got one) is that the power utility company can see outages in real time, and they can tell quickly and exactly who still has their power out.
They've always been able to do that.
Nope, a faraday screen would be useless,because the control signals arrive via the power line itself.Any conductor can simultaneously carry signals at many frequencies.Your AC power is simply a very strong 60hz signal and the control data is likely on a 130-160 khz signal.
One thing I really like about the new meters (I just got one) is that the power utility company can see outages in real time, and they can tell quickly and exactly who still has their power out.”
I now live in N Nevada.
i have lived in the past with DWP in Los Angeles & P G & E in N Calif.
Power outages in those places resulted in long & ineffective calls to the power company.
Here, in N Nevada, I have NV ENERGY.
They have, without a single doubt, the absolute best call in, button pushing, system of reporting any kind of power problem I have ever experienced.
Never get dropped in the middle of a call.
Never get into a ‘loop’.
Never fails to call me back automatically when the power is restored.
Had an outage here 2 days ago- called in & this time actually got a live person.
Outage was over a mile in each direction. Did not find out the cause, but they are always polite & on top of things.
NV ENERGY has the ONLY automated call center I have ever encountered that I have never had a problem with.
Now any person who gains access to the utilty computer can shut off the power while remaing safely hidden miles away.
The control freaks and statists tell us of other reasons for everything they do but i am VERY suspicious of these meters,the huge concrete "noise abatement" walls that restrict egress from the highways,the crowd control heat and ultrasonic devices,etc.
The water in the cookpot is getting very warm but the frogs are just relaxing ,thinking it is a sauna.
The only way these things can save energy is by limiting the customers' use.
Just wait until the smart WATER meters that monitor how many showers,baths,and toilet flushings occur in your home!!!!
These system "improvements" are much more about controlling the people than saving money.
They’re going to herd us down the highways?
There will be many exemptions and exclusions for having your power turned off. Ultimately only you and I will be the only two people that have our power shut off.
But that is OK for me becuase I just bought a 37KW generator. I’m good. Don’t worry about me.
If and when they get the power,everyone's "use of scarce resources" will be tightly controlled;well, everyone but the special peoples'.
And the resources are scarce because the "greenies" won't allow sufficient drilling,refining,storage,nuclear plants,etc.,etc.
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