The use of RC4 Encryption for Smart Meters

Abstract

The electrical power grid is undergoing improvements and is being transformed to theSmart Grid. Smart Grid makes use of two way flow of power and information to better monitor, plan and control the electrical power grid. Advanced communication allow for better service delivery, faster problem detection and correction, and  more efficient distribution. However, the same heavy reliance on data that makes smart grid possible is the same source of its vulnerability: cyber attacks and privacy leakages. By accessing information on monitoring such as a household’s power usage, one candeduce when the owners of a home are present and even what electrical equipment they have. Such privacy leakages could be used in planning a breakin. To overcome this, we examine the use of encryption on smart meter data. RC4 stream cipher is used. We show that due to its low computational resources, RC4 is a suitable candidate for encryption.