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View Full Version : `Smart' meters have security holes




Anti Federalist
03-26-2010, 12:49 PM
Not content to have cars rigged up so that some punk somewhere can shut you down, now the opening is there to have the same thing happen in your house.

It's a brave new world out there...

AP Exclusive: `Smart' meters have security holes

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100326/D9EMFLG80.html

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - 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.

These utilities, which he would not name, have already done small deployments of smart meters and plan to roll the technology out to hundreds of thousands of power customers, Wright told The Associated Press.

tangent4ronpaul
03-26-2010, 03:03 PM
Good find...

track the mentions in that and mentions in what comes up and you find some really interesting stuff. Alarming, but interesting.

-t