A Novel Approach for Detecting and Mitigating the Energy Theft Issues in the Smart Metering Infrastructure

Abstract

Smart meters are intelligent, responsive energy meters deployed for measurement and communication of energy consumption by the end consumer. This data is used for grid management, billing, fault detection, etc. So, it is paramount to ensure the availability and integrity of this data without compromising the privacy of the consumers. While the smart grid provides protection against amateur physical tampering techniques, it is vulnerable to hacking by malicious users or organized groups. With all the smart meters connected to the same network, security loopholes might have increased exposure to potential exploits resulting in revenue loss. We aim to provide an exhaustive list of all possible attacks on the smart meters including viable physical tampering and data hacking techniques and provide a novel approach to countering energy theft. To address the issue of energy theft, we propose a method which successfully detects and mitigates energy theft in the Smart Metering Infrastructure with attack exposure analysis including a Customized detection algorithm, Meter Data Tampering Algorithm (MDTA) and we suggest inserting a one-way function, named as Unique String Authentication Procedure (USAP) into the smart meter which is also stored in the Meter Data Management System (MDMS) database. The unique string generated at the meter end is authenticated with that generated at the MDMS. This novel method successfully detects and mitigates energy theft in the Smart Metering and Advanced Metering Infrastructure.