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Hacked Water Heaters Could Trigger Mass Blackouts Someday (wired.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

At the Usenix Security conference this week, a group of Princeton University security researchers will present a study that considers a little-examined question in power grid cybersecurity: What if hackers attacked not the supply side of the power grid, but the demand side? From a report: In a series of simulations, the researchers imagined what might happen if hackers controlled a botnet composed of thousands of silently hacked consumer internet of things devices, particularly power-hungry ones like air conditioners, water heaters, and space heaters. Then they ran a series of software simulations to see how many of those devices an attacker would need to simultaneously hijack to disrupt the stability of the power grid. Their answers point to a disturbing, if not quite yet practical scenario: In a power network large enough to serve an area of 38 million people -- a population roughly equal to Canada or California -- the researchers estimate that just a one percent bump in demand might be enough to take down the majority of the grid. That demand increase could be created by a botnet as small as a few tens of thousands of hacked electric water heaters or a couple hundred thousand air conditioners. "Power grids are stable as long as supply is equal to demand," says Saleh Soltan, a researcher in Princeton's Department of Electrical Engineering, who led the study. "If you have a very large botnet of IoT devices, you can really manipulate the demand, changing it abruptly, any time you want."

5 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Rolling blackouts can fix it. by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Rolling blackouts can fix it.

    1. Re:Rolling blackouts can fix it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not connecting water heaters to the Internet might be a better fix.

    2. Re:Rolling blackouts can fix it. by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Yeah, I'm asking myself, who the fuck has a water heater that is network connectable, much less hooked to the internet?

      Network enabled space heaters? Really?

      I was also going to ask about AC and regular Central heat, but then I did think that some people have them controllable and accessible through apps.

      Frankly, I'd not want to have any of my utilities type things connected in the house, I see no benefit from it, but I can see many negatives.

      I just want something that functions a LONG time, and works independently of other things in my home.

      I don't need to connect my fridge, or dishwasher or toaster...hell, I wouldn't let the Power or Gas company install a network able connection to my meters....

      The internet and being connected has its place, but running my home, is not one of them.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. Re:Hydro Quebec isn't scared by Dread_ed · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yo, homie...

    -40 is the exact same in f and c.

    Yes, i'm serious.

    --
    When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
  3. Re:Remind me again... by pz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no need for your hot water heater to be online. Nor for your watch. Or your lightbulbs. Or oven, piano, fireplace, thermostat, fire alarm, bed, doorbell, garage door opener, iron, washer, dryer, or any of the IoT things, really. It's all artifical demand, and hopefully like the artificial demand for 3D televisions that self-extinguished in the face of lackluster consumer reception, the IoT will go away once the market doesn't support it.

    Your refrigerator needs more insulation, not to run an operating system.

    --

    Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.