Although that new smart refrigerator might seem like a fun gadget and great way to sync up grocery lists, smart appliances have the potential to become vectors in malicious power grid attacks. Or what about the increasingly popular addition of a solar plus storage solution or an EV charging station in individual homes? These home energy hubs, connected to the power grid and often linked with a host of devices via a mobile phone, pose another layer of risk that is only beginning to be explored. As the World Economic Forum draws attention to a worldwide “cyber pandemic,” electrical grid breaches remain an ongoing point of alarm. Power grids are more exposed than ever to cyberattacks, thanks in part to the vast expansion of (often poorly secured) consumer internet-connected devices, large remote-work networks and new smart grid technologies that connect power meters remotely to aging grid infrastructure. As we look to the future, the rapidly evolving technologies that are necessary to enable distributed energy resources and virtual power plants, such as residential energy storage, home energy hubs and EV bidirectional charging (V2H, V2G or V2X), have the potential to dramatically redefine those risks—for the better or the worse.
