[Cryptography] Smart electricity meters can be dangerously insecure, warns expert

[Peter Gutmann]

Adam Sampson <ats at offog.org> writes:

>This probably depends on where you are in the world. In the UK, we've had
>"Economy 7" electricity meters available since the early 1980s that can
>switch off-peak loads (e.g. electric storage heating) based on a control
>signal transmitted over longwave radio.

Radio?  Here it's done via ripple signalling, the tech goes back to (at least)
the 1940s or 1950s and uses huge (compared to a modern MCB) electromechanical
switches.  It was also used to turn street lights on and off.

>It's well-tested technology here, not terribly expensive, and absolutely
>something that the UK specs for smart meters expect you to support.

Interesting, it must vary a lot from country to country.  All the ones I've
seen are purely passive monitoring devices.

Peter.