====== 2020-01-04 - smart meters not so smart ======

some years ago i wrote about [[blog:2013:01:04:1|my concerns regarding wireless water meters]] (fun fact -- it was exactly 7 years ago ;)). i recently came across two articles pointing out the very same problem... and a very simple way to exploit/monitor these devices with [[wp>Software-defined radio|SDR]] (nearly) for free (RLT-SDR hardware is around 20[[wp>EUR]] now):

  * [[https://hackaday.com/2017/12/21/read-home-power-meters-with-rtl-sdr|reading home power meters with RTL-SDR]]
  * [[https://hackaday.com/2019/08/14/data-mining-home-water-usage-your-water-meter-knows-you-a-bit-too-well|data mining home water usage; your water meter knows you a bit too well]]

long story short: TX signal is plaintext water/electricity usage + meter number. every1 can read it. the bad news is that these types of meters are already a commonplace and you cannot even opt-out. again ease of use for water/power supplier took precedence over users security/privacy. aka: "[[https://hackaday.com/2014/08/31/green-light-your-way-to-an-easy-commute|industry standard]]"...