Smart Meters Hacked (In Lab)

Great article on utility smart meters being hacked by a local SF security company. This highlights the problem with engineers and security; if an engineer has logged into a computer or opened a door with a key, that engineer feels qualified to design a security system. How hard can it be?

"I never imagined anyone would do that!"

Although I like to believe these failures are due to ignorance and not hubris, I find myself baffled that large companies don't know better.

Sure, some designers try to do a good job, but more often than not all they really do is sprinkle security pixie dust on the system and release it to the public.

The facts are: security professionals make careers out of protecting systems and hackers make careers out of attacking systems.

This stuff isn't that complicated, but it's more complicated than tossing a salad.