The Smarter Grid

In the US, tens of millions of "smart meters," which are vulnerable to remote exploitation, viruses, worms, malicious upgrades, and all manner of other attacks, have been deployed. Attackers can and already have used these meters, on a small scale, to disable the power infrastructure and cause both long-term physical damage to it and harm to the public. These deployments and other related control mechanisms will be expanded in the coming years, as a necessary step toward better energy efficiency and to enable the next generation of electrical systems to integrate into the grid. The question is, how can we make this deployment safe and secure?