Scalable end-to-end security for advanced metering infrastructures

Conventional utility meters are increasingly being replaced with smart meters as Advanced Metering Infrastructures (AMIs) provide many benefits over conventional power infrastructures. However, security issues pertaining to data transmission between smart meters and utility servers are a major concern. In particular, as data travels through several networks, scalable key management schemes are crucial for secure end-to-end communications. In this paper, we propose an approach based on physically unclonable function (PUF) technology for providing strong hardware based authentication of smart meters and efficient key management to assure the confidentiality and integrity of messages exchanged in AMIs. Our approach does not require modifications to the existing smart meter communication. We have developed a proof-of-concept implementation of the proposed approach which is also briefly discussed in the paper.