Information security is a crucial part of modern systems where vital information is carried through public or private communication networks. One such system is that of advanced metering infrastructure. Companies that design head-end systems, such as the company Enerdat-S Ltd., Šenčur, whose head-end system we are developing, must ensure that there is an appropriate level of information security in their system. This thesis describes the security mechanisms implemented in AdvanceHES, a product of Enerdat-S, and is limited to electricity meters which comply with DLMS/COSEM specification.
The meter which is used in this thesis uses only symmetric cryptograpthic operations. The main problem with symmetric cryptography is ensuring secure private key distribution to an information transmitter and receiver. The existing solutions to this problem are not fully adequate (e.g. not secure enough), so there was a need to implement functionality for meter key exchange.
The main part of this thesis describes the design and implementation of meter key exchange functionality for a Landis+Gyr E350 electricity meter. For the prevention of critical errors, we implemented retry mechanisms, which are also described in this thesis.
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