Smart Grid Security at Black Hat

For those not familiar with Black Hat, it's mecca (in Vegas) for many on both sides of the cyber wars. This year the Smart Grid will be there too, with folks from security services firm IOActive describing their work uncovering vulnerabilities in some of the hardware and software used to build Smart Grid pilots.

From IOActive's EnergyPulse site, here's a piece of secure programming 101, adapted accordingly:

The challenge to building a secure smart grid power infrastructure is to quickly enact methods that support both asset owners and smart grid vendors. Typical of most emerging industries and first-to-market initiatives, the smart grid AMI community lacks a formal Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL) to guide and govern the release of sound quality technology and products.

Government Computer News has the conference heads-up here. And here's the Black Hat site itself, with everything you need to know about how to get the most out of the conference which runs 25-30 July.