Leading speakers comment on the latest issues in Smartgrid Cyber Security

SmartGrid Cyber Security and Privacy – 14-15th November 2011, Amsterdam

There is just over a month until SMi’s SmartGrid Privacy conference, and with smart meters being rolled out throughout Europe daily it represents a great opportunity to bring about a paradigm shift in the way in which consumers use electricity and understand their consumption habits. However the way in which smart meters' systems are designed and deployed present numerous challenges and risks for consumers. Privacy is only one of them, but indeed one of the most important.

Energy consumption data belongs to each individual consumer as it is a representation of their household activities, reflecting their habits by setting out an electrical consumption footprint. Therefore, any smart meters' roll-out plan and integration with smart grids must contain measures to ensure that consumers' privacy is respected. This also links to the necessity of having security measures in place to avoid data breaches. Other challenges with smart meters include the fact that not all consumers may benefit from the installation of a meter in their household. This will depend on whether or not the real cost savings for consumers are larger than that of installing and maintaining the meter.

We asked registered speakers why they felt Privacy was so important; here a couple of the answers we received:
"Clarifying how you handle the privacy aspects in the smart metering infrastructure as a grid operator like Enexis, is a key element to customer acceptance,"
Program Manager Privacy and Security, Enexis
“The protection of privacy preserves the freedom of all of us,”
Research Associate, University of Hamburg
CYBER Security is of the upmost concern internationally across all defence and critical national infrastructure industries. The deployment and vision of the smart grid is not only incredible in realising our abilities to reduce climate change but also pose a real threat from terrorism and online hacking. Privacy is not security, but is an equally important issue to smart grid integrity. Much needs to be worked out to ensure privacy breaches don’t expose consumers to malicious attacks, fraud or other invasive practices. Privacy and integrity are paramount to the success of the Smart Grid, as such we will focus on education, process improvements, and better operational security, addressing: Privacy breeches, malicious attack, fraud, Metering, data management, analytics, control consumption patterns and monitoring, PII, privacy policies, buying and selling models, cloud based solutions and other invasive practices.
View the full speaker line-up for the event and REGISTER at
http://www.smi-online.co.uk/smartgridprivacy24.asp

About SMi Group
The SMi Group is a world leader in business to business information. With nearly two decades in the business, thousands of senior executives from blue chip companies have already benefited from SMi's highly targeted conferences, workshops and publications. For more information visit www.smi-online.co.uk

For further information contact:
Jules Omura
Tel: 44 (0)20 7827 6018
Email: jomura@smi-online.co.uk

Mark Ram
Head of Marketing

SMi Group Ltd
Unit 122-124
Great Guildford Business Square
30 Great Guildford Street
London
SE1 0HS
Phone: +44 (0)20 7827 6092
Fax: +44 (0)20 7827 6093
Email: mram@smi-online.co.uk

This release was published on openPR.