How "safe" are our inverters

QrizB

michaels said:

Screwdriva said:

QrizB said:

Do you remember the Super Micro (US company) motherboard backdoor story from 2018?

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/12/supermicro_bloomberg_spying/

Yes, I do and you're right to raise this. I have never claimed this is a new phenomenon or that other corporations have not indulged in this foolish maneuver but I do believe the Chinese State extends itself through its corporations in a way the world has yet to fully react to. Given the geopolitical volatility in SE Asia, the risk of a war like "event" similar to what was seen in S Asia last week remains uncomfortably high. 

On a related note, I suspect this subject is likely why Octopus has yet to add any Chinese brand inverters to its Intelligent Flux tariff. 

I had always assumed that Microsoft were closely linked to the NSA and that a similar relationship was behind Google's meteoric rise (and as an aside why China has tried to freeze out such products)

Re. Microsoft and US politics:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/trumps-sanctions-icc-prosecutor-halted-tribunals-work-121824057

EcoScruples

So is there an answer to how safe our investors are? Mine is obviously from a huge Chinese brand mass marketed range although I’m not concerned now, maybe when it comes time change I’ll look at alternatives closer to home.

QrizB

EcoScruples said:

So is there an answer to how safe our investors are?

Currently? No. The sources of the news reports are anonymous and they didn't name any specific brands or models.

Screwdriva

While there is alot of press coverage of this discovery, I don't believe anyone should worry in the short term. That said, I would suggest gravitating towards one of the inverter brands I shared previously when it's time for a new/ replacement purchase.

I've done my best to highlight that the price can be comparable if not lower via the quotes I've shared, and, given the ethical and now security downsides, I genuinely struggle to see a reason for investing in Chinese owned product. 

Magnitio

EcoScruples said:

So is there an answer to how safe our investors are? Mine is obviously from a huge Chinese brand mass marketed range although I’m not concerned now, maybe when it comes time change I’ll look at alternatives closer to home.

If there comes a time when we become more concerned about our relationship with China, you can always disconnect the inverter from the internet and connect to it locally. You would still be using their app, so you would need to make that connection from a phone/tablet that is also not connected to the internet.

It does concern me that we are becoming totally reliant on the internet for everything and increasingly on servers and apps that are controlled by other countries.

QrizB

Magnitio said:

EcoScruples said:

So is there an answer to how safe our investors are? Mine is obviously from a huge Chinese brand mass marketed range although I’m not concerned now, maybe when it comes time change I’ll look at alternatives closer to home.

If there comes a time when we become more concerned about our relationship with China, you can always disconnect the inverter from the internet and connect to it locally.

While I don't think it's a serious concern for domestic equipment, do note that the original Reuters article was talking about hidden cellular chipsets (4/5G modems and similar) embedded in inverter hardware.

Disconnecting from your WiFi isn't going to prevent someone dialling in directly to your inverter. This does of course assume that the chipset has supporting firmware, an active connection, the inverter is in a location with coverage and hasn't been blocked at the network level by the cellular operator - all the usual things that can stymie a mobile phone connection.

nologo

My Inverter is manufactured by an Israeli company, but of course there is no dislike for the Israeli nation at moment (sorry may be political,) I don't know how confident I am at the moment it's secure, it's ok so far..nologo

NedS

During a war, infrastructure is a target. In a modern day war, the other side no longer needs to physically bomb a power station when they can remotely disable inverters or the grid, or can cut undersea cables linking countries (inter-connectors) or off-shore wind farms etc.

As previously stated, anything connected to the internet is hackable, and in the case of much equipment doesn't even need to be hacked when the OEM has direct access as a feature to enable remote support and updates.

We live in a connected world and that's just the reality we live in.

Countries are awake to the cyber threat and have cyber warfare units. China uses the same equipment we do and are equally vulnerable (although we do not have direct OEM access to Chinese-made equipment like Chinese companies do).

Reed_Richards

The WiFi on my inverter failed and it took about 2 months to get a working replacement.  But it continued to operate throughout that time; I just couldn't change the settings.  Now it has a cable connection instead of WiFi, which I could just unplug if I didn't want it talking to the internet.  Or I could disconnect my router from the internet if I wanted to change the inverter settings or monitor my solar panel performance.

Nick_Dr1

Exactly! If you isolate from the internet, you are safe (you do have to unplug it in time though).

Except of course if the enemy has planned ahead and fitted a secret mobile phone chip into the system (what's known as a backdoor) before you bought it.

Exploding pager, anyone?