Smart electricity meters can be dangerously insecure, warns expert

Hackers can cause fraud, explosions and house fires, and utility companies should do more to protect consumers, conference told

Smart electricity meters, of which there are more than 100m installed around the world, are frequently "dangerously insecure", a security expert has said.

The lack of security in the smart utilities raises the prospect of a single line of malicious code cutting power to a home or even causing a catastrophic overload leading to exploding meters or house fires, according to Netanel Rubin, co-founder of the security firm Vaultra.