A Secure and Resilient Smart Energy Meter

Abstract

The expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Grids (SG), and renewable energy sources has created a greater need for effective cybersecurity measures. These systems need to be protected from all threats in order to maintain continuity and functionality. Smart grids are made up of integrated modules that rely on essential data communication. Each module is exposed to different cybersecurity issues that, if compromised, will affect the entire system. This study addressed the security and data integrity issues in smart energy meters (SEMs), which are critical components in smart grid networks. After a comprehensive review of existing products and their features, a security-focused design for the SEM was proposed. The proposed solution provides a multi-level design to ensure the hardware, communication, and data security of the SEM. The solution mitigates Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, data integrity issues, data privacy and energy theft. The security of a smart meter depends on securing two-way data communication, data processing and data integrity. To achieve this goal, the authors leveraged LoRaWAN technology in smart grid communications and unidirectional data transmission to ensure network security and resilience.

Keywords

• Artificial intelligence
• cybersecurity
• data diode
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• LoRaWAN
• smart grid