AP Exclusive: `Smart' meters have security holes

Yahoo News/AP ^ | Fri Mar 26, 2:19 pm | By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer

[Mad Dawgg]

SAN FRANCISCO – Computer-security researchers say new "smart" meters that are designed to help deliver electricity more efficiently also have flaws that could let hackers tamper with the power grid in previously impossible ways.

At the very least, the vulnerabilities open the door for attackers to jack up strangers' power bills. These flaws also could get hackers a key step closer to exploiting one of the most dangerous capabilities of the new technology, which is the ability to remotely turn someone else's power on and off.

The attacks could be pulled off by stealing meters — which can be situated outside of a home — and reprogramming them. Or an attacker could sit near a home or business and wirelessly hack the meter from a laptop, according to Joshua Wright, a senior security analyst with InGuardians Inc. The firm was hired by three utilities to study their smart meters' resistance to attack.

[Mad Dawgg]

"These flaws also could get hackers a key step closer to exploiting one of the most dangerous capabilities of the new technology, which is the ability to remotely turn someone else's power on and off."

Bigger worry, if hackers can do it, Government can do it too and of course in the name of saving the planet!

November cannot get here fast enough!!!

[BigSkyFreeper]

Bigger worry, if hackers can do it, Government can do it too and of course in the name of saving the planet!

Also, if the government can do it, hackers can too.

[GSP.FAN]

They installed mine a couple of months ago,i tried to refuse but meter guy said they would turn off power to set a example for other people thinking of doing the same thing...

[Jeff Chandler]

I got one the other day. The guy who installed it say not to worry because the electric company is a bunch of greedy no-goods who want to make a lot of money off of me. I almost feel like reporting the slob for biting the hand that feeds him.

[Logical me]

The bastar@s already put one on my house. Total control electronically of our cars will be next by recording the MPG of your car and are fined for going over the collective limits. Rotten communists are sure turning us into slaves. America, the fight is now. Government will even start the move to put chips in our bodies unless we take them down.

[SpaceBar]

"smart" meters that are designed to help deliver electricity more efficiently...

What hogwash. They are designed to bill the customer more profitably.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Total control electronically of our cars will be next..."

Been there...

Done that...

already on youtube...

[hoosierham]

Hogwash!The smart meter is all about CONTROL.

At the most benign level it is about allowing the utility to control your electric usage to avoid building more generating capacity by them setting priorties of your usage;at worst it will be the government rationing your usage.Expect critics of government policies to have more restrictions while Al Gore's pool heater NEEDS the power.

Also it will be easy enough to simply shut off power to the home or business of alleged criminals who make too much money and don't donate to the socialist front groups.

It is all about control.

[SteamShovel]

They are designed to bill the customer more profitably.

And our tax money is being used to help install them...

[Lorica]

bookmark

[SmartInsight]

“Bigger worry, if hackers can do it, Government can do it too and of course in the name of saving the planet!”

The whole point of “smart meters” IS so that the utility companies can turn your thermostat in your own home up or down, if they think there is too high usage, ostensibly at peak hours.

We all need to become hackers so we can disable the meters, which are already mandatory in some areas, or soon will be.

[FrankR]

"What hogwash. They are designed to bill the customer more profitably. "

I agree...they are read by "satellite", so the companies save labor and transportation for human "meter readers"...albeit that is contributing to "unemployment".

I've had a little training on this meters, and nothing was said about "remote control" anything...I think they are just remotely "read".

[happygrl]

The Chinese are very interested in this capability.

[TigersEye]

Gee, I said something about rigging your smart meter to lower your bills a couple of weeks ago and was immediately told by several people “that’s not possible.”

[BP2]

Then again, if you have an “old fashioned meter,” there's ways the unscrupulous can “hack” those too — just remove it before the meter man comes by for a reading ...

Cut your electric bill in half without conserving energy

I was hesitant to post this tutorial, seeing as how it could get your utilities turned off if you were caught doing it, but I thought it deserved a little attention if for no other reason than to illustrate an easily fixable vulnerability in the way utility companies currently read meters. To be completely honest with you, I'm not 100% sure how, or even if this project works. Luckily for us, however, we have some fantastic readers who will (and should) quickly jump in and let me know what a dork I am for believing that something like this would even work in the first place.

So, with that out of the way, let's look at how you can “supposedly” cut your electrical bill in half by creating some sort of weak electromagnetic field around your meter.

Materials

1. Copper wire (apparently any gauge will work)
2. Two magnets (one significantly larger than the other)
3. Electrical tape
4. Plastic cup
5. Enough distilled water to fill the plastic cup
6. Saran wrap, or other plastic wrapping
7. Rubber band

The rest is at the link: http://www.diylife.com/2007/09/12/your-electric-bill-in-half-without-conserving-energy/

[BigSkyFreeper]

The electric company has ways of knowing you’ve tampered with your old style meter. They have hand-held electromagnetic detectors that can sniff out electromagnetic energy.

[BP2]

They have hand-held electromagnetic detectors that can sniff out electromagnetic energy.

Electromagnetism is all around us.

If caught, one could simply blame it on a personal collection of loadstones on the other side of the wall from the electric meter ;)

That said, stealing is wrong and illegal, even though the Dems in Congress do it to us every day ...