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On Security of a Home Energy Management System

October 1, 2014

07028872

Authors: Avijit Saha, Saifur Rahman, Manisa Pipattanasomporn, Murat Kuzlu

Conference: 2014 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies, Europe

DOI: 10.1109/ISGTEurope.2014.7028872

Abstract: Smart grid, constituting of numerous components and sub-systems, can be a target for security threats. Failure of any sub-system to properly defend itself against attacks poses a serious risk to the protection of smart grid as a whole. Therefore, securing residential demand response (DR) applications as part of the smart grid requires careful attention. This paper discusses security concerns of a specific DR implementation: the Home Energy Management (HEM) system developed at Virginia Tech (VT). The paper identifies possible security attacks against its various key components, and presents best practices for the counter-measure against those attacks. Privacy issues have also been addressed using access control methods. The paper serves as a use case example of assessing and mitigating security risks in residential DR programs.

 

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07028872.pdf