Posted on 06/15/2009 6:42:04 AM PDT by smokingfrog
New electricity meters being rolled out to millions of homes and businesses are riddled with security bugs that could bring down the power grid, according to a security researcher who plans to demonstrate several attacks at a security conference next month.
The so-called smart meters for the first time provide two-way communications between electricity users and the power plants that serve them. Prodded by billions of dollars from President Obama's economic stimulus package, utilities in Seattle, Houston, Miami, and elsewhere are racing to install them as part of a plan to make the power grid more efficient. Their counterparts throughout Europe are also spending heavily on the new technology.
There's just one problem: The newfangled meters needed to make the smart grid work are built on buggy software that's easily hacked, said Mike Davis, a senior security consultant for IOActive. The vast majority of them use no encryption and ask for no authentication before carrying out sensitive functions such as running software updates and severing customers from the power grid. The vulnerabilities, he said, are ripe for abuse.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
Why isn’t this in American news?
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Utter nonsense, and we already beat this horse to death a couple of times.
Move on folks, there’s nothing to be seen here at all.
Wasn't this part of the goal?
Sssssh! It might reflect badly on the Anointed One!
Please explain how it has been “beat to death”. I am a daily frequenter of Free Republic and have not seen this discussed in great detail. While it may have been discussed in some threads, I may have missed them.
Feel free to introduce facts, details and opinions you may be familiar with.
And, by the way, thanks for your service, Chief...
What is "utter nonsense"? The idea that they are installing meters that can shut your power off as the push of a button?
Also, please explain how meters save energy? Meters monitor energy. These are not meters. They are controls that can also monitor electricity usage.
Just another foot of rope for our government. This will be used to introduce a progressive tax on energy usage. All new cars will ship with “internet capabilities” to do the same thing with the miles that you drive.
Probably because the Brits are being forced to accept these meters by law. They are still relatively uncommon in the US.
Well, one of the few upsides of the greatest crash in history coming is they’ll stop installing and you can keep your old well made simple meter forever.
I heard a report on NPR where the person who was advocating smart-power was gleefully describing how they would be able to remotely set the thermostat in someone’s home.
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Can you find a link for that and post it, maybe on the NPR website or some other one?
These meters cannot do that. They can only be turned on or off. Regulating use of electricity would require a complete rewire of the panel and using some sort of relay system to regulate the amount of power you use.
I am starting to do some research on this. It appears that CT's CL&P (our power co.) is set to install 1.2 million of these meters. I plan to stop them from putting it in my house. I see no reason to use them except to cut power immediately from a remote location.
Monitoring Home Usage
One recent afternoon, Tom Stathos from PPL is looking over Yeakel's shoulder as she clicks through the site. He notices that Yeakel's electricity use surges upward around 8 p.m. and asks her to explain what happens in her house at that time.
"My husband comes home," she says. He turns on the television and lights, leaves doors open and starts cooking. "We're always behind him turning everything off," Yeakel says with a giggle, adding that even her 4-year-old twins pitch in.
This woman has let a man into her home to interrogate her and support the castigation of her husband.
..all part of the wuSSiFicKation of the Nation.
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