Privacy and Security in Smart Energy Grids (Dagstuhl Seminar 11511)

The ``smart energy grid'' promises to improve the reliability and efficiency of the future energy grid by exchanging detailed usage information between the end consumers and the utilities. This application raises different questions with regard to privacy and security. For instance, detailed meter readings enable to infer detailed information on the private life of the consumers; furthermore, manipulations of meter readings open the possibility of fraud. The goal of the seminar was thus to raise awareness of the privacy and security problems associated with smart meters and bring together academic researchers as well as utility experts in order to start an open dialogue on smart grid privacy and security problems and potential solutions.