I don't know if smart meters are a health threat or not, but I'm convinced they are a security risk. The potential for hackers to intercept or disrupt smart meter communications has been given little attention compared to the health concerns.
But consider that anyone with a radio receiver and a laptop can intercept smart meter transmissions and because there's no physical entry point, there's absolutely no way on earth for PG&E to know who is monitoring their network. Hackers can thus take their sweet time decoding the data before striking. Once they learn the code, hackers may be able to shut off individual meters, monitor people's habits, alter their own (or their neighbor's) billing, or even crash the system with denial of service attacks. Less sophisticated pranksters could simply transmit a stronger signal on the same frequency to distort and jam meter transmissions, rendering their data useless. Its only a matter of time.
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I don't know if smart meters are a health threat or not, but I'm convinced they are a security risk. The potential for hackers to intercept or disrupt smart meter communications has been given little attention compared to the health concerns.
But consider that anyone with a radio receiver and a laptop can intercept smart meter transmissions and because there's no physical entry point, there's absolutely no way on earth for PG&E to know who is monitoring their network. Hackers can thus take their sweet time decoding the data before striking. Once they learn the code, hackers may be able to shut off individual meters, monitor people's habits, alter their own (or their neighbor's) billing, or even crash the system with denial of service attacks. Less sophisticated pranksters could simply transmit a stronger signal on the same frequency to distort and jam meter transmissions, rendering their data useless. Its only a matter of time.
This article from CNET goes into more detail of potential security risks. http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20007672-245.html
I support a smart grid in theory, but the way PG&E is doing it is all wrong!
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