{"id":31808,"date":"2019-07-15T09:34:22","date_gmt":"2019-07-14T23:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=31808"},"modified":"2019-07-15T09:37:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T23:07:01","slug":"solar-inverter-cyber-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-inverter-cyber-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar inverter cyber-security: listen carefully, and you\u2019ll hear the time-bomb tick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31973 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/solar-cyber-security.jpg\" alt=\"Solar power system security\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/solar-cyber-security.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/solar-cyber-security-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/solar-cyber-security-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/solar-cyber-security-1024x536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On a Friday afternoon early in July, I was pleased to hear the ABC\u2019s current affairs radio program <em>PM<\/em> cover cyber-security in the small business sector. It\u2019s impossible for a four-minute radio spot to be comprehensive, but building awareness is a slow process.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>To kick off what I hope will be an ongoing discussion of security in the solar energy world, I&#8217;d like to focus on introducing some of the things a homeowner needs to consider if their household solar power system is connected to the Internet.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>PM<\/em> segment can be heard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/radio\/programs\/pm\/small-business-warn-of-cyber-threats\/11283612\">here<\/a>, and in it, UNSW Canberra Cyber\u2019s Nigel Phair (a well-known expert) asks a handful of useful questions as a starter for cyber-security:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How tech-heavy is your business? (Or, since I&#8217;m thinking of household PV here, how tech-heavy is your home setup?)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where is the data kept?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who has access to that data?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why do they have access?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Solar energy equipment is very tech-heavy and getting more so, making Phair&#8217;s last three questions just as relevant to the PV owner as to the small businesses he had in mind.<\/p>\n<h2>Where is the data?<\/h2>\n<p>If you recall the kinds of setups we\u2019ve discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-smart-homes-standards\/\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/diy-solar-home-automation\/\">here<\/a>, to try and implement solar energy diversion if it\u2019s not built into the system, you\u2019ll quickly see the answer to \u201cWhere is the data kept?\u201d is \u201cAll over the place\u201d; which isn\u2019t ideal from a security point of view.<\/p>\n<p>The solar inverter (or a data logger attached to it) collects and stores data; it\u2019s connected to the Internet through a household broadband modem; the data is sent to a cloud service (either operated by the vendor, or a third party service) where it\u2019s stored and formatted for presentation. Another system accesses that service to get a local copy of the data for decision-making (\u201cIs there enough power in the PV system to charge the EV?\u201d) and yet another API accesses the data for a mobile app; and so on.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31948\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31948\" class=\"wp-image-31948\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Schematic-for-RC-article-1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Solar power and the Internet\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-31948\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A modern solar power system is exposed to internet in many ways. That means you need to consider its cyber security.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Who has access?<\/h2>\n<p>For most or all the hardware and software in this image, usernames and passwords are the default for controlling who can access the data.<\/p>\n<p>At the very minimum, everything with an Internet connection <i>must <\/i>be protected by a strong password, with a password manager &#8211; Apple\u2019s Keychain or a browser-based service like LastPass &#8211; so you don\u2019t have to remember \u201chaJd#M4n67x*%\u201d<i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Take the broadband modem for example: the usual default admin password is often \u201cadmin\u201d. If an attacker logs into the modem, they\u2019ll have a path to whatever connects the inverter, and worse, they can start poking around the control system.<\/p>\n<p>Everywhere there\u2019s a password, make it a strong one, and you can also ignore the ancient (and now superseded) warning to change your passwords regularly. Nobody\u2019s going to mount a successful \u201cdictionary attack\u201d (using a fast computer to test one word after another) against a properly random password.<\/p>\n<p>The same goes for any smartphone app you use: give it a strong password.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, if your reseller or solar installer has access to the system (for example, to help with fault-finding), make sure they also use strong passwords.<\/p>\n<h2>Phishing and ransoms<\/h2>\n<p>Something Nigel Phair didn&#8217;t mention is the popular form of attack known as ransomware: the criminal breaks into a victim\u2019s PC, encrypts it, and demands a ransom from the owner to let them have their system back.<\/p>\n<p>On a large scale, this can be utterly catastrophic &#8211; the criminals behind an attack a couple of years ago called \u201cNotPetya\u201d caused hundreds of millions of dollars damage to the global shipping giant Maersk (I wrote about it in a previous life with UK IT publication The Register<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2018\/01\/25\/after_notpetya_maersk_replaced_everything\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But it isn&#8217;t just about big business: it would be devastating if your PV system was locked up by ransomware.<\/p>\n<p>The usual attack channel for ransomware is \u201cphishing\u201d via e-mail: you get a legitimate-looking message (\u201cclick link to view invoice\u201d), and the link downloads the malware that attacks your computer.<\/p>\n<p>The first and most obvious advice is one I\u2019ve heard repeated for two decades as an IT journalist: <i>don\u2019t click on links in e-mails.<\/i> Since phishing still works, it\u2019s pretty clear that people still don\u2019t follow this advice; so I\u2019d suggest that for something as important as control software, you don\u2019t use the same to check e-mail as well.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s still a risk, though: someone might get tricked on their laptop, and the malware is able to jump to other machines on the same network &#8211; get good virus and malware protection, and keep it updated<\/p>\n<p>If your computer is doing important work like helping control where your solar power goes, I strongly recommend getting advice about malware protection, and following that advice.<\/p>\n<h2>Backup is your friend<\/h2>\n<p>In most cases, the setup in my badly-drawn diagram isn\u2019t going to generate huge amounts of data, so a simple 1 Terabyte portable hard drive from your local office supplies shop will easily provide backup. If you <i>do<\/i> fall prey to something like ransomware, you won\u2019t have to panic, because you can restore the whole system from the backup.<\/p>\n<p>Since a professional malware attacker will also try to encrypt the backup, you need a bit of hygiene here: unplug the backup drive when it\u2019s not in use.<\/p>\n<h2>Encryption is for everyone<\/h2>\n<p>A couple of final thoughts for this article on protecting information with encryption.<\/p>\n<p>Encryption is an absolute must for any important data travelling over the Internet. A good example is if you&#8217;re using the smartphone app to check your solar power system, and you&#8217;re connected to a public Wi-Fi hotspot. If your data isn&#8217;t encrypted, it&#8217;s easy for someone connected to the same hotspot to view your communications &#8211; and maybe discover your usernames and passwords.<\/p>\n<p>The good news here is most services you&#8217;ll work with will encrypt their data by default. The important thing for you is to check that a service is safe, and in a Web browser, that&#8217;s easy &#8211; just take a look at the URL.<\/p>\n<p>This article, for example, travelled from SolarQuotes to you using an encrypted channel. The HTTPS:\/\/ in the URL means it\u2019s using \u201cHTTP Secure\u201d &#8211; the server encrypts the data before sending it to you, and your browser decrypts it.<\/p>\n<p>Your modem has a web page for configuration &#8211; it\u2019s vital that it uses HTTPS after you\u2019ve logged in. Likewise, make sure any cloud service you connect to uses HTTPS.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, I\u2019ve focused on end-user concerns &#8211; and still barely scratched the surface! When I revisit solar power system security in the future, I\u2019d like to look at it from the retailer and reseller point of view &#8211; so I\u2019ll welcome anyone raising questions they&#8217;d like answered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a Friday afternoon early in July, I was pleased to hear the ABC\u2019s current affairs radio program PM cover cyber-security in the small business sector. It\u2019s impossible for a four-minute radio spot to be comprehensive, but building awareness is a slow process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":31973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-installation","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Solar inverter cyber-security: How to keep your solar power secure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Modern solar inverters are permanently connected to the internet, meaning they can be vulnerable to hackers. 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