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Smart metering and smart monitoring systems Chapter 2 85

ensure accurate, precise and reliable data acquisition, and should be able to
communicate with a wide variety of devices. The development and increased
deployment of AMI systems have raised concerns on data protection and pri-
vacy. One of the critical challenges of smart metering and AMI system deploy-
ment is related to cyber security of entire infrastructure according to Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI). The increased utilization of recent metering
technologies and integration with communication technologies make the smart
metering systems much more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and incidents. The use
of wireless communication networks and widespread data acquisition nodes
have caused exposures to potential intrusions and attacks on metering infra-
structure [17, 18].
The attackers target to intrude communication network, to achieve
unauthorized control ability, to modify metering and billing data, and to manip-
ulate load and operation conditions. The precautions for preventing intrusions
include authentication, authorization, and privacy controls. Although the pri-
vacy control methods are well known and widely used for several years, recent
AES and PKI technologies provide increased security and high performance in
privacy control. Another significant privacy control method has been intro-
duced as Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (3DES) as a robust solution, but
NIST reports that 3DES will be an insecure method by 2030. The wireless com-
munication technologies are protected by widespread standards such as IEEE
802.11i and IEEE 802.16e with diverse security levels. On the other hand, wire-
line communication systems are secured by firewalls, virtual private networks
(VPN), and IP Security (IPSec) methods. The higher-level protections require
improved protection mechanisms like Secure Shell (SSH), Security Socket
Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) that are more convenient than
regular protections [18]. Theses security technologies are based on key manage-
ment requirements and entire smart grid infrastructure. However, it should be
noted that millions of devices, organizations, and deployments comprise whole
system.
The communication networks of AMI and smart grid infrastructure differs in
specific applications since each application or devices rely on various function-
ality, architecture and structure. AMI is one of six major applications of smart
grid where the left is related with DR, wide area monitoring systems (WAMSs),
DER and ESSs, EVs, and DMS. The security requirements and applications of
AMI are quite like CPS requirements in terms of confidentiality, integrity,
availability, and accountability in terms of component security. On the other
hand, communication networks such as HAN, BAN, and NAN may be posed
to threats [5, 18, 19]. Therefore, we deal with AMI security in two main titles
as follows.

2.4.2.1 AMI security related to components
AMI security is one of the crucial topics in smart grid infrastructure. The AMI
security specifications are widely researched and several developments have