{"id":916,"date":"2011-03-19T10:35:22","date_gmt":"2011-03-19T17:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/?p=916"},"modified":"2017-01-06T20:46:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-07T04:46:51","slug":"smartmeter-hackability-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/smartmeter-hackability-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Vital Privacy Loss: Can Smartmeters Tell Burglars When You are Away?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We need Smart-ER<\/u> meters
\n(c) Copyright 2011 David Dilworth<\/center><\/p>\n

Would you publish a newspaper ad that lets burglars know when you are going on vacation? Well, that\u2019s essentially what \u201csmart\u201dmeters do.

\"Burglar\"<\/a>

Burglar<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Vital Privacy Lost: Smartmeters Broadcast Your Private Information:<\/u><\/p>\n

Smartmeters broadcast your utility usage information to everyone within a mile or so of your home. They need a more powerful signal than your WiFi or cordless phone because they have to transmit much farther and must transmit through walls with certainty. <\/p>\n

So now burglars don\u2019t even have to drive over to see if you are home \u2013 they can just find out if you are away by getting your information from a simple antenna (using free WiFi hacking software). When you are home your power usage increases and fluctuates. When you are away it is low and very stable.
\n
\nQ: So what? Smartmeters information is coded so they can\u2019t read it.<\/p>\n

A: PG&E says the information is encrypted, but . . .<\/p>\n

Smartmeters are Easily Hacked:<\/u><\/p>\n

According to computer security experts \u2013 \u201cany computer system can be hacked.\u201d Indeed, yesterday (March 19, 2011) hackers broke into the computers of RSA, the world\u2019s leading computer security company. They stole vital password tools which can be used to break into online bank accounts. \u201cSecurity firm RSA gets hacked, ID token data stolen\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

A September\/October 2009 article in MIT\u2019s \u201cTechnology Review\u201d by Erica Naone explains four ways the \u201cSmart\u201d grid and smart meters can be hacked. She writes \u201cResearchers say new energy infrastructure isn\u2019t nearly secure enough.\u201d<\/a> These methods are explained in everyday English by a long time computer industry reporter in \u201cFour Ways to Hack the Smart Grid.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Second, while Homeland Security and any savvy burglar can get your personal power use information<\/u> easily, you can\u2019t. Smartmeter dials don\u2019t show you any more than existing \u201csafe meters.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can only get your own \u201ctime-of-use\u201d power information over the internet, it doesn\u2019t display on the meter itself. That means there is a second way<\/U> anyone (any burglar) can also find out if you are away by logging onto PG&E and guessing (or crack) your password using an ordinary laptop computer.<\/p>\n

Smart-ER meters<\/u> Protect Your Privacy<\/p>\n

There is no need for your utility corporation to have your personal “time-of-use” information. A “smartER”-meter would take your use data and increase billing during high use periods (afternoons) and lower it during low use periods (nighttime). Such a meter never needs to send your personal data to the utility corporation. Lets call that device an “Autonomous Privacy Protection Utility Meter” or “Smarter-meter.”<\/p>\n

Who Else Can Turn Your Power On and Off ?<\/u><\/p>\n

At the February 2011 Monterey City Council meeting, Councilman Jeff Haferman asked PG&E \u201cIf the customer\u2019s power can be remotely turned off by the meter, could a hacker turn off an entire neighborhood [- or a whole town]?\u201d PG&E claimed they couldn\u2019t answer that. They said they\u2019d get back to him. (As of March 19, they have not done so)<\/p>\n

An electrical contractor explained how while working on a large electrical substation recently, he learned Homeland Security and the Department of Defense has control over the American Electric Grid, and the new \u201cSmart-Grid.\u201d He was told that when Smartmeters are installed, both agencies will have the ability to shut down power to anyone they want.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal reports that HomeLand Security already monitors all information carried on the Grid<\/a>, and the FBI has admitted they have the ability to turn on your cell-phone microphone and listen to your conversations – even after you have turned your cell-phone off<\/i> !<\/a><\/p>\n

With \u201cSmart\u201dmeters how much \u201ckill-switch\u201d control will the FBI, the CIA, NSA and Homeland “Security” have over your home energy power and your home electronics (or be able to turn ON your computer and other devices)?<\/p>\n

Welcome to Orwell’s 1984 — on steroids.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/center><\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt from a filing by Center for Democracy & Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Privacy Threats of the Proposed Smart Grid :<\/p>\n

“. . . the Smart Grid presents new privacy threats through its enhanced collection and transmission of detailed consumption data \u2013 data that can reveal intimate details about activities within the home and that can easily be transmitted from one party to another. The following aspects of these expanded data flows represent a profound shift from the traditional customer-to-utility relationship:”<\/p>\n

“(1) Granularity of Usage Information: The Smart Grid entails collection of much more detailed data about consumer energy consumption than previous
\ntechnologies allowed. Whereas historically a consumer\u2019s consumption data may have been collected once a month or less frequently from a traditional meter fixed to the side of a house, in the Smart Grid, sophisticated new systems will collect and record this data at much shorter time intervals\u2014down to real-time or near real-time intervals. The emergence of increasingly sophisticated metering technologies is enabling the unprecedented collection of energy consumption data\u2014from 750 to 3,000 (or more) data points a month\u2014 and will reveal variations in consumption that can reflect specific household activities such as sleep, work, and travel habits.”<\/p>\n

“(2) New Types of Information: Smart Grid technologies collect a much greater variety of information than has been collected by conventional energy services. In addition to detailed energy consumption data, utilities may collect distributed generation data, unique identifiers and functionality of home appliances, temperature inside the home, and location information of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, just to name a few.”<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We need Smart-ER meters (c) Copyright 2011 David Dilworth Would you publish a newspaper ad that lets burglars know when you are going on vacation? Well, that\u2019s essentially what \u201csmart\u201dmeters do. Vital Privacy Lost: Smartmeters Broadcast Your Private Information: Smartmeters … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,19],"tags":[198,195,197,196],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-smartmeters","category-bad-acts","tag-fbi","tag-homeland-security","tag-rsa","tag-smart-grid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":61,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3269,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/3269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}