Smart grid easy to hack, say hackers

August 5, 2010 · Posted by in Energy 

 

How easy would it be for people to hack Boulder's smart grid?

Here in Boulder, people are already asking a lot of questions about smart grids and whether they’re a good idea. But here in the home of the first functioning smart grid in the world, it has primarily been a financial question so far.

 

Folks at a recent hacker conference say it would be easy to hack a smart grid and cause trouble — like shutting power down to individual users or whole cities. That should get the attention of the 24,000 homes in Boulder that are using smart meters. Technology Review says that the rush to get smart grids up and running might be ill-advised:

…to receive the stimulus money, utilities will have to install new devices across their entire customer base quickly. Security experts say that this could lead to problems down the road–as-yet-unknown vulnerabilities in hardware and software could open up new ways for attackers to manipulate equipment and take control of the energy supply.

Smart-grid deployments involve installing smart meters in homes and businesses across a utility’s coverage area. These meters can communicate with the utility and with other networked devices–usually via a wireless network of some type. Some ways to hijack this type of equipment have already been revealed. Last year, Mike Davis, a senior security consultant at IOActive, created a piece of software that could spread automatically between smart grid hardware in different homes. The software would then be capable of shutting equipment down.

Sounds like the smart grid is going to have to be really smart.

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