Hackers Could Abuse Electric Car Chargers To Cripple the Grid, Researchers Say

alphadogg writes "Hackers could use vulnerable charging stations to prevent the charging of electric vehicles in a certain area, or possibly even use the vulnerabilities to cripple parts of the electricity grid, a security researcher said during the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam on Thursday. While electric cars and EV charging systems are still in their infancy, they could become a more common way to travel within the next 10 years. If that happens, it is important that the charging systems popping up in cities around the world are secure in order to prevent attackers from accessing and tempering with them, said Ofer Shezaf, of HP ArcSight. At the moment, they are not secure at all, he said."

Comments

Stop the FUD

[wbr1]

A hacker could just as concievably shut down the computer or payment system in a traditional gas station rendering it useless. Or disrupt the credit authentication system. Or a terrorist could bomb them.
Just because its an EV does not make it or its infrastructure any more or less succeptible to an attack of some kind. To say otherwise just discourages people from looking at it as an alternative and is FUD.

Re:Stop the FUD

[JaredOfEuropa]

Apparently there's adequate security on computers at gas stations and credit card companies. The point is that EV charging points do not have adequate protection, making them an obvious target. The same concern was voiced about smart meters / smart appliances, and experts claim that by switching a great many high power equipment (EV chargers, dryers, solar panel inverters) on and off in a certain coordinated way, one can seriously mess up the grid.

Re:Stop the FUD

[Anonymous Coward]

"A few hundred million of such chargers"??? Wake me when there ARE a few hundred million EV smart chargers in the US. Once I get done celebrating I'll help you secure them.

A large portion of EVs (including my Leaf) are recharged today using nothing more sophisticated than the brick that came with the car and a 120v outlet in the owner's garage.

Wrong venue

[aquabat]

I think you have accidentally posted this piece to the wrong site, sir. There are too many people here who have a clue for your tactic to work. I suggest you try "SeekingAlpha" or "Forbes", if you want to manipulate a market more effectively.

Re:Fuses...

[LoRdTAW]

Seriously. If this clown thinks that switching on multiple charging stations at once can cripple a grid he needs a course in basic electric system installation. This guy is just hyping up a non existent problem and turning it into "OMG terrorist hackers will cripple our country!" FUD. Its silly attention seeking.

Example:
If you had 10 chargers in a parking lot, each charger would have its own internal circuit breaker and the entire branch circuit that powers them all also must have a circuit breaker. Lets say the branch circuit can only support a maximum of 5 chargers at full power or a mix of low/high charge levels for all 10. If some "hacker" turned them all on at once guess what happens? The branch circuit breaker trips, problem solved. Even if there were 100 chargers, a breaker will trip and again problem solved.

DOS on electric meters?

[John Jorsett]

This brings to mind something else I've been wondering lately. Are the new electric meters that are going in capable of disconnecting service by remote command? If so, I'd think that would be an even jucier target for hacker disruption.