Security guidelines for smart metering services in smart grids

Smart metering services have been widely deployed worldwide to make electricity grids more efficient and reliable by gathering/providing electricity usage information from/to customers, respectively. This information can be used to estimate customers' electricity demands, and the estimation can be used to shift demand or to change customers' electricity consumption behaviour by providing electricity usage information to them. However, smart metering services can malfunction because of various threats. For example, invalid metering information can lead to erroneous demand management decisions, and abusing load control functions can cause economic and physical damage to customers. Recommendation ITU-T X.1332 provides security guidelines for smart metering services to enable service providers to implement appropriate security measures to ensure the security of their service. This Recommendation identifies security threats and attack methods against smart metering services, and specifies security requirements and capabilities to mitigate these threats and attacks accordingly.