Are LTE And 5G Cell Phone Systems Secure?

Are you expecting that every communication system has one or the other issue with security? You are right! What's about LTE and 5G? Here is what researchers have found:

Check out the following:

RANsacked: Over 100 Security Flaws Found in LTE and 5G Network Implementations
By Ravie Lakshmanan

Excerpt: "A group of academics has disclosed details of over 100 security vulnerabilities impacting LTE and 5G implementations that could be exploited by an attacker to disrupt access to service and even gain a foothold into the cellular core network. ..."

Click HERE and HERE for additional information.

LTE and 5G are used for power systems all over ... just google for iec 61850 lte 3g ... you will be surprised ;-)

Click HERE to follow some discussion on remote monitoring and control ... if ever possible minimize the use of communication ... 

Stromnetz Berlin - Goes Digital with various approaches

The distribution operator "Stromnetz Berlin" with some 2.4 Million customers and 350.000 house service connections operates the following networks and applies various communication solutions:

110 kV Network: 
- 80 Substations with 600 switch gears
- all switch gears remote controllable
- communication infrastructure: fiber optic

10 kV Network:
- 10,700 Distribution stations with 23,000 switch gears
- 10 per cent of switchgears remote controllable
- expandable to 100 per cent
- communication infrastructure: land line, TETRA Radio

0,4 kV Network:
- 15,000 cable distributor boxes
- 96,000 feeders
- 1 per cent of switch gears remote controllable
- expandable to 100 per cent
- communication infrastructure: pager (e*nergy - based on e*message)

The protocols used are likely quite different - I guess.
Click HERE to download a presentation from "Stromnetz Berlin" [German only]
Click HERE for the presentation material (14 slide presentations) of a recent conference [German only]

Want to Understand one of the Largest Machines - The Interconnected European Electric Power Grid?

The Interconnected European Electric Power Grid is one of the biggest machines built by humans. It has been developed over a period of about some 130 years. It is a miracle that it is still working very stable and more or less uninterrupted form many years.

The challenge for the future is this: How to keep the power flowing, the grass green and the sky blue. I met with a retired - but still very active - power engineer yesterday. We discussed how more information technologies can be used to support a very reliable automation system to provide 24x7 power flow all over in Europe. We have figured out that one of the key challenges in the discussions is to find the correct language in our discussions. I mean: When I talk about preventing any "remote control command", what does the recipient of that term understand? We figured out that we have discussed this term for years - but did have a different understanding in mind!

Fortunately we solved our disconnect and were happy that we have the same understanding. We will use a new (or just another) terms to make sure that other people will understand what we want to say.

A "remote control command" an mean:

1. Switch on the electric heater of heat storage system  or
2. Allow the local controller of the heat storage system to draw electric power when the local controller sees a need to heat the storage.

In the first case the electric power will immediately flow. In the second, it may or may not - depending on the local situation. Not all heater will start immediately at the same time to heat.

In case we use the term "remote control command" for the first application only, we will not be understood by many people. Because - I guess - most people would say: In both use cases we send a "remote control command" to the remote system.

What is the real underlying difference of the two use cases? The first one has a direct impact on the power flow, while in the second there is a local control system involved to decide what to do. Let´s assume we have 1000 heaters of a total power of 10 MW. In the first use case we have an immediate power flow rate of 10 MW per a few seconds. In the second case it is a stochastic situation where some may immediately draw the power others may draw power one hour later ...

Finally: If we would have smart systems, then the local controller would be situationell aware of the condition of the power system: if the frequency or voltage would be below specific set-points, then they would not draw power at all ...

If you would like to learn more about the huge machine "Interconnected Electric Power Delivery System":

Click HERE to watch a video [with English translation] which discusses some basics of the complexity ... enjoy.
Click HERE for the version in German.
Click HERE for more options.

Do You Really Want to Use Your Phone for Remote Control?

Kim Zetter reported on 31 July that “Hackers Can Control Your Phone Using a
Tool That’s Already Built Into It”.

Would you like to be controlled by somebody else? Somebody you don’t know?

The report starts: “ … Two researchers have uncovered such built-in vulnerabilities in a large number of smartphones that would allow government spies and sophisticated hackers to install malicious code and take control of the device.”

Click HERE for the full report.

I hope that you are not planning to use smart phones in any critical infrastructure! Be smart! Any remote control in the energy automation could be very dangerous. Automation systems that highly depend on control commands from a central unit are in danger to be hacked or compromised by errors – independent of smart phones.

We have to thing towards more autonomous automation. Inputs to remote stations may be limited mainly to set-points that allow the algorithms in the remote units to check against the physical measurements and other information (situational awareness).