BlackIoT Aims to Disrupt the Power Grid

The primary security concern with regard to internet-of-things (IoT) devices has largely been focused on individual security and privacy, but researchers at Princeton University found another substantial way an attacker could compromise IoT devices and use them to disrupt the power grid. At last week’s 27th USENIX Security Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, researchers presented their findings that high-wattage IoT devices, dubbed BlackIoT, pose a significant risks to power grids. This new type of attack on the actual power grid is distinctly different from threats to SCADA systems, according to the recently released white paper, BlackIoT: IoT Botnet of High Wattage Devices Can Disrupt the Power Grid. Researchers proposed that an attack could happen if an malicious actor exploited high-wattage IoT devices for manipulation of demand via IoT attacks, resulting in local power outages and large-scale blackouts.