Smart Metering: Security threats and Counter measures→

Energy theft and meter tampering are world-wide problems that contribute heavily to revenue losses. Consumers have been found manipulating their electric meters, causing them to stop, under-register or even bypass the meter, effectively using power without paying for it. Apart from preventing physical tampers requiring smart solutions on chip, smart grid technologies are now in the process of being deployed. These solutions require a combination of different technologies and rely on network connectivity, posing significant security issues that must be addressed from the beginning. This paper covers vulnerabilities, challenges and techniques to prevent tampering in an energy meter, improving overall security (hardware and software) in a smart grid.

Deciphering phone and embedded security – Part 4: Ideal platform for next-generation embedded devices→

Smart Phones as it stands today have some of the most sophisticated security measures deployed by the manufacturers to be able to restrict the users from manipulating the device. Specifically on Android, that being open platform , the Greek or development community have been often successful in defeating these measures, thus installing custom ROMs to be able to customize the phone or even unlock the phone before the expiry of the term with service provider. Part I of the series cover general Android architecture to make readers aware about the basic Android platform and the associated framework including the common terminology used like Rooting and Flashing. Part II links it all together and takes a deep dive as to what really happens at the hardware level during an unlock operation and tricks hackers use to fool or bypass bootloaders and install custom ROMs. Part III covers various flavors of bootloaders that are offered by the manufacturer to provide levels of protection/security and the way some of them get compromised. Leveraging existing security measures discussed in first three parts, Part IV takes it further and describes ideal security capabilities that could be included on next generation embedded devices. Techniques describes are to rather to increase cost of attack with a acceptable level of risk for a particular application. Just like there is no free security, there is no full security!!

Deciphering phone and embedded security – Part 2: What really happens during an unlock operation→

Smart Phones as it stands today have some of the most sophisticated security measures deployed by the manufacturers to be able to restrict the users from manipulating the device. Specifically on Android, that being open platform , the Greek or development community have been often successful in defeating these measures, thus installing custom ROMs to be able to customize the phone or even unlock the phone before the expiry of the term with service provider. Part I of the series cover general Android architecture to make readers aware about the basic Android platform and the associated framework including the common terminology used like Rooting and Flashing. Part II links it all together and takes a deep dive as to what really happens at the hardware level during an unlock operation and tricks hackers use to fool or bypass bootloaders and install custom ROMs. Part III covers various flavors of bootloaders that are offered by the manufacturer to provide levels of protection/security and the way some of them get compromised. Leveraging existing security measures discussed in first three parts, Part IV takes it further and describes ideal security capabilities that could be included on next generation embedded devices. Techniques describes are to rather to increase cost of attack with a acceptable level of risk for a particular application. Just like there is no free security, there is no full security!!

Flow metering tutorial – Part 2: Pulse-based counting in flow meters→

In Part 1 of this series, we covered the fundamental concepts and principles incorporated by flow meters along with various flow measurement methods used in mechanical flow meters. Part 2 covers the pulse based counting method and the various sensors that are used in industry and the way they generate different pulse waveforms to be used in variety of flow meters.

Flow metering tutorial – Part 1: Understanding the fundamentals→

Flow meters are used to measure the rate of flow of liquids or gases, just like electric meters measure the amount of electricity consumed. However, unlike electric meters, which are either electro-mechanical or electronic meters, there are just too many variants in flow-meters, all with different concepts on how the flow of fluid is measured, with some even customized to measure special fluids. A new generation of electronic flow meters provide better control and accuracy of fluid measurement, however still leave several choices on how fluid is measured. Part I of this series covers basic flow meter fundamentals including types of flow meters and the main considerations and challenges in selecting a flow meter.

How secure is AES against brute force attacks?→

In the world of embedded and computer security, one of the often debated topics is whether 128-bit symmetric key, used for AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is computationally secure against brute-force attack. Governments and businesses place a great deal of faith in the belief that AES is so secure that its security key can never be broken, despite some of the inherent flaws in AES. This article describes the strength of the cryptographic system against brute force attacks with different key sizes and the time it takes to successfully mount a brute force attack factoring future advancements in processing speeds.

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