New public/private partnership takes aim at smart meter security

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A recently developed technology called software behavior computation will be applied in a demonstration project intended to enhance detection of cyber security vulnerabilities in smart grid components. The Automated Vulnerability Detection System (AVUD) will first zero in on improving security in software that controls smart meters.

Sensus, Enernex and DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory will collaborate on the project. Sensus will provide the smart meter architecture, firmware and source code, and Enernex will kick in its expertise at evaluating smart grid utility technologies. For its part, ORNL has developed the Function Extraction (FX) technology evaluation platform to analyze software and device firmware.

The FX technology will compute the behavior of software under all circumstances to provide an understanding of everything it does, and will detect unintended and maliciously included vulnerabilities in smart grid components. That information will be used to recommend how to mitigate those vulnerabilities.

Balu Ambady, security director for Sensus, said the project could lead to early detection of vulnerabilities in smart grid components like smart meters and to the development of uniform standards for improving data security.

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