Cyber security vulnerabilities of smart metering based on LPWAN wireless communication technologies

Smart Metering allows utilities to get a remote and instant reading of the electronic meters used for Electricity power consumption and water utilization. Despite all the advantages presented by the smart metering system, there are always some challenges to be faced, such as security and communication. Cyber-attacks not only may threaten the consumer’s privacy but they can even lead to a compromised system with direct implications on people’s safety and society activities. On the other hand, nodes Geo-location may also impose problems, when they are geographically dispersed and hard to reach from the usual cluster. The provisioning of such a large number of smart meters directly affects the operational cost expenditures. The same is true when there is not currently an appropriate communication infrastructure. Wireless technology offers an easier, faster, and cost-effective approach. To discuss and answer the above challenges, Low Power Wide area networks (LPWAN) technologies are considered, with special focus on Long Range/Low Power Wide Area Network (LoRa/LoRaWAN) technology which facilitates long-range wireless, as they seem promising to anticipate for many of the recognized problems. Accordingly, for building such a reliable LPWAN-based smart metering infrastructure, applicability, feasibility, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities have to be examined using the existing literature.