While complaints about inaccuracy and the invasion of privacy may be unfounded with smart meters, security worries may be more legitimate.
Cleveland-based management-consulting firm, SecureState, addressed these concerns with the full open source code release for a framework called “Termineter.”
Termineter allows users to read and write raw data to tables, which can be used to initiate procedures. The framework implements and supports the ANSI C12.18 and C12.19 standards, offering basic nonvendor-specific routines. It gives users fine-grained control and direct access to the data on the meters.
The goal is to promote security awareness and provide a tool that brings basic testing capabilities to the community and meter manufacturers. Power companies can use the framework to identify and validate internal flaws that leave them susceptible to fraud and other forms of hacking.