An Implementation of a High Assurance Smart Meter Using Protected Module Architectures
Due to ongoing changes in the power grid towards decentralised and highly volatile energy production, smart electricity meters are required to provide fine-grained measurement and timely remote access to consumption and production data. This enables flexi
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iMinds-DistriNet, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200A, 3001 Leuven, Belgium [email protected] 2 ESAT-COSIC and iMinds, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, 3001 Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium
Abstract. Due to ongoing changes in the power grid towards decentralised and highly volatile energy production, smart electricity meters are required to provide fine-grained measurement and timely remote access to consumption and production data. This enables flexible tariffing and dynamic load optimisation. As the power grid forms part of the critical infrastructure of our society, increasing the resilience of the grid’s software components against failures and attacks is vitally important. In this paper we explore the use of Protected Module Architectures (PMAs) to securely implement and deploy software for smart electricity meters. Outlining security challenges and an architectural solution in the light of security features provided by PMAs, we evaluate a proof-ofconcept implementation of a security-focused smart metering scenario. Our implementation is based on Sancus, an embedded PMA for lowpower microcontrollers. The evaluation of our prototype provides strong indication for the feasibility of implementing a PMA-based high assurance smart meter with a very small software Trusted Computing Base, which would be suitable for security certification and formal verification. Keywords: Smart meter security · Smart grid · Protected module architectures · Distributed embedded computing · Sancus
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Introduction
The smart grid is an extension of the traditional electricity grid. It includes smart appliances, renewable energy resources and smart electricity meters, facilitating bidirectional communication between these components and stakeholders, e.g., between a smart meter and the grid operator [9]. This is needed to deal with the volatility of renewable energy sources and new appliances such as electric vehicles, and to increase the reliability and sustainability of electricity delivery – one of the most critical resources of our time. Electricity Smart Metering Equipment (ESME), i.e., smart meters, have three main responsibilities. Firstly, ESME measure the consumption of electricity and essential grid parameters, such as voltage or frequency, and timely c IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2016 Published by Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. All Rights Reserved S. Foresti and J. Lopez (Eds.): WISTP 2016, LNCS 9895, pp. 53–69, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-45931-8 4
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provide this data to the grid operator. Secondly, they operate a Load Switch, which can disconnect a premise from the electricity grid. The grid operator may use this in emergency cases to avoid a black-out. Finally, ESME communicate consumption data to smart appliances or an In-Home Display (IHD) present at the premise for local inspection and micro-management by the client. Relying on ESME involves security risks that range from privacy infringements to full-scale black-outs [12,29]. Physically
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