Smart Grid Computers Susceptible To Worm Attack

narramissic writes "Researchers with security consultancy IOActive have created a worm that could quickly spread among Smart Grid devices, small computers connected to the power grid that give customers and power companies better control over the electricity they use. '[The worm] spread from one meter to another and then it changed the text in the LCD screen to say "pwned,"' said Travis Goodspeed, an independent security consultant who worked with the IOActive team. In the hands of a malicious hacker, this code could be used to cut power to Smart Grid devices that use a feature called 'remote disconnect,' which allows power companies to cut a customer's power via the network. The robustness of US power networks has been a hot-button issue after a technical glitch in 2003 caused a cascading power failure in the eastern United States and Canada that affected 55 million people."

Comments

Glitch?

[Scrameustache]

It wasn't a glitch, it was negligence! Cheap cost cutting measures, enabled by foolish deregulation: Trees were not trimmed around critical power lines, the lines were cut by falling branches, and then a cascading failure spread through the grid.

Nothing to see here, move along...

[dtmos]

This is non-news.

There is no single "Smart Grid" device technology. At present there are many proprietary solutions from many different vendors, each using different communication protocols, computer hardware and firmware, and security methods. Each one of these vendors has its products in a very, very small fraction of the utility meters in the nation, most of which, of course, have no Smart technology at all. So the fact that these guys found one architecture vulnerable to a particular stack-overflow attack is bad for the vendor(s) that use it, but not indicative of an approacing nationwide catastrophe.

Smart Grid system standards are under development, however, and those doing the development are exceedingly aware of the need for high security. The IEEE, for example, recently started a Smart Grid standardization effort, P2030, and the IEEE 802.15.4g Smart Utility Neighborhood Task Group effort is already underway. Since the utilities lose revenue -- potentially all revenue, plus destruction of capital assets -- if their equipment is cracked, they are very much a part of these standard development activities, and security is of constant concern. (There will undoubtedly be an industry consortium tasked with reviewing implementations of these standards.)