The illegal access to our electrical information in smart grid system can lead to many big problems such as theft, crime and damages of our electrical machines. The electrical information such as how many Kilo Watt each device consumes, the start time, the end time, the device signature is stored in a smart meter device which exist in our houses, all of these information together is known by " A customer load profile - CLP". The CLP is transferred through a WAN to the service provider database, which then manipulated and analysed. Then we come up with some valuable findings which help the service provider to balance the electrical demands, reduce power interruption and operational costs. However, these information can also be used for other purposes such as in market research, spying, and one of the most important thing is the illegal access to those information. For example, the CLPs of many customers can tell us that most of people watch the Television between 6 - 9 pm. So, they might push more ads on the television during this period of time. Also, the government might use theses information in police investigation. On the other hand, a hacker might be able to perform a man-in-the-middle attack and gather as much information as he can about a specific customer, let's say the hacker spent two months for gathering information. Then he can analyse these information and make a pattern. For example, he can know what time the house is busy or empty, the habits or even the religion, he can come in the morning or during a holiday time to the customer house and steal things from there.
There are different solutions for the privacy concern such mask the CLP, use a third party to control and mange the CLP, or provide the minimum information which allow the service provider from issuing the electrical bills. These concerns are still exist, also the trust between customers and service providers is a big issue.
Ahmad A. GROUP
IT System Administration
Sydney Area, Australia