Spider

he project aims at developing and certifying a Smart Meter Gateway in order to be able to implement safer powerline data communication in an intelligent energy grid while also taking the needs of all relevant stakeholders into consideration. The specific contribution of the University of Siegen has its focus on optimizing the security infrastructure under consideration of human behaviour.
The project SPIDER follows the application-oriented setup and expansion of the Smart Gateway as a security component for applications and services in IT infrastructure of future intelligent energy grids. The use of the standardized concepts and mechanisms of Trusted Computing (TC) makes it possible for security requirements to also be implemented in potentielly non-safe environments as they can emerge through the decentralized grid organisation of the Smart Grid. Especially TC makes it possible, through Trusted Platform Modules, to measure the systems integrity, it also allows for a strong authenfication of the involved platforms and can give reliable information regarding the integrity of an IT system. Security aspects regarding the end participants of low frequency grids need to receive a special amount of attention. Thereby the standards of the Common Criteria Safety Profile of the Federal Office for Information Security need to be implemented. The goal of the security profile, that was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, is the establishment of a binding standard for data privacy and data security so that there is a safe and secure basis from which further steps in terms of Smart Metering can be taken. The market acceptance of these solutions is dependent on the reliability and safety of the used IT systems. It is central that the existing standards, both the Common Criteria and the technical guidelines, be observed and implemented. It is also necessary to make sure that they are regularly updated to ensure that inter-operability is guaranteed.

Based on the current state of technology, the University of Siegen and its project partners have the goal of realizing a secure powerline-based data transfer in an intelligent energy grid. At the end of the project we want to have a complete security concept for a reliable and secure powerline-based data transfer in energy grids. This includes observations regarding endpoint security, trustbuilding, lifecycles, ergonomical safety, the realisation of the required hard and software and the use of the devices in areas that are accessible for third parties. The hard and software components of the security concept will be entirely implemented as a prototype. The insights obtained from the project as well as the prototypes will be evaluated in a real field test in a residential quarter in Hamburg. The special contribution of the University of Siegen is the optimization of the to be created security infrastructure. The consideration of ergonomical security from the persepective of the end user is one of the main factors contributing to reducing the amount of incorrect operations, increasing the acceptance of the provided added value and to also increase the awareness and knowledge of the end user for security issues.