Talk: Hacking Digital Measuring Devices

René Pfeiffer/ June 18, 2011/ Security

We just listened to the talk by Franz Lehner about „Hacking Digital Measuring Devices“. Smart meters are ubiquitous. A lot of measuring devices have turned digital and are composed of a small CPU with some memory and connections to sensors or data outlets. Calibration is always involved when you measure something. Having access to the calibration mode/commands of a smart meter can change your bills, supply false readings to operators and can even be ramped up to be a security risk. Think vapour/liquid pressure, temperature, speed, humidity, power, etc. Usually you rely on the output of sensors, right?

Talk about Smart Meters at BSidesVienna / Ninjacon.

Franz Lehner talking about Smart Meters.

Smart meters is something to watch very closely. Again there’s a link to cars (which use smart meters for measuring the speed and other parameters), then there’s a link to the power grid, and there a dozens of more fields where the digitalisation changes the way things are measured. If there is data, someone will try to manipulate it, rest assured.

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About René Pfeiffer

System administrator, lecturer, hacker, security consultant, technical writer and DeepSec organisation team member. Has done some particle physics, too. Prefers encrypted messages for the sake of admiring the mathematical algorithms at work.