Smart meters, uh oh!

2mql3

Surely anybody who follows the news will realise that most computer systems can be hacked with enough effort. Many IoT (Internet of Things) devices like smart meters are actually particularly poor on security simply because they're made by companies who don't have a background in security.

The Salus IT-500 thermostat is a very good example, as it was pretty trivial to reverse engineer enough of their mobile app so that I could interface it to my Amazon Echo. Whilst doing this, I noticed that the tokens they were using looked particularly weak and could probably be exploited to get into other people's accounts and control their heating. It's pretty unlikely that a small company like Salus would have hired expensive specialist penetration testers to try and find security flaws so they're very likely to be there. Also the communication between the control unit and the thermostat uses an unencrypted signal on the public 868 Mhz band and so you could build transmitter and drive up and down the street turning everbody's heating off.

Since smart meters have remote pull switch which allows suppliers to do a remote disconnect, this would be perfect for a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, where a mischievous minded individual (or a foreign power) could switch everybody's electricity off by hitting one meter after another. Imagine doing that to a hospital to run down the generator fuel or to the council buildings hosting the air raid sirens a few days before the nuclear attack - you can see why GCHQ are worried.

House Martin - Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean that it can't happen. That's like saying why do I bother locking the door, I haven't been burgled yet.

I'd agree with some of the other posters and just wait until proper standards are introduced which mandate encryption and authentication of communications links.

Raxiel

d70cw6 wrote: »

When they hack your smart meters they'll be able to give you electric shocks whilst you sleep!
WHILST YOU SLEEP!

I feel sorry for people with pacemakers.

House_Martin wrote: »

You are plain bonkers coming out with utter tosh like that.Keep your paranoia to yourself and do not try to import it to others.There are plenty of gullable people on this forum who may well believe your fairy tale

It gets worse than that! According to an article I imagined I read in the Daily Mail, anyone who refuses a smart meter or can't have one due to a poor signal will have a family of Syrian refugees forcibly billeted with them and said immigrants will live in the meter cupboard and write down readings every half hour in a notepad!

It's political correctness gone mad! You couldn't make it up! etc.
Except when it is made up.

magublican

Smart Meters / Pay as you go meters, I believe are one and the same, eg. you pre-pays your money so that the fuel you use is already paid for, hence No hidden / unexpected bills. However, I do believe that although the Gov. wants to roll them out " NATIONWIDE " Compulsory is not in the options. My question is, will all smart meters be regulated to a Standard quality of meter ? How much notice will customers be given of increase in tariffs. I assume all " smart or otherwise " meters must be compatible with any supplier of energy ?

What safeguard do customers have with any rogue Suppliers ( and there are many ) Especially when " Leisure Park owners " Impose Compulsory installation of smart meters on their "PRIVATE" land where no Authority has the right to Intervene as is the want of some of these CROOKS ! :jSorry, ( Personal Experience in 2016 Provided this statement )

magublican

Point is , DO YOU THINK YOU'VE ALREADY POSTED THE QUESTION ?

doberryfirkin

I don't think the issue with smart meters is their security. It's the privacy issue that concerns me. I suspect the motivaion here is to monitor closely power use. In an age with dwindling supplies and more demands, if rationing and / or tailored supply is needed then a more precise picture of demand and user profile is needed. The fact that you will be forced to place a moniotoring device into your home that is permanently connected to another agency should be a concern. With the right level of reading they can determine quite a lot about what you do, when and if you'll pay more to keep the supply in place.

System

doberryfirkin wrote: »

I don't think the issue with smart meters is their security. It's the privacy issue that concerns me. I suspect the motivaion here is to monitor closely power use. In an age with dwindling supplies and more demands, if rationing and / or tailored supply is needed then a more precise picture of demand and user profile is needed. The fact that you will be forced to place a moniotoring device into your home that is permanently connected to another agency should be a concern. With the right level of reading they can determine quite a lot about what you do, when and if you'll pay more to keep the supply in place.

Suppliers will be offering three levels of smart meter operating, the lowest of the three will be one reading once a month( or it could be once week ).For "normal " non paranoids who could nt give a monkeys about suppliers gaining knowledge about energy use then the electric meter will be sending a continuous stream of readings.. I like that !