Thames Water no notice given for installer WiFi meter!

[jaba]

Reverse the problem Jaba, if you're worried about your data getting hacked, and people breaking in when they work out if you're away from home, then fit a burglar alarm.

Yes, you're paranoid, and your life will be a lot calmer when you learn not to be. And you need to understand the things that need worrying about, and the things that don't - this being one of them.

Already have an alarm Doggit. thank you for that Piece of informative advice
I don't seem as worried about being a little paranoid as you are worried about me being paranoid lol
You're not becoming paranoid about me are you lol
Preventing crime is always a better option, that indeed is what we buy alarms for, to hopefully put the pesky burglars off and break into next door instead right!
But in reality some of those pesky burglars have different MO's. Some will be more local and watch when someone comes and goes (happened to one of my neighbours) some will just be passing and chance there luck if they see all the lights off (also happened to one of my neighbours)
Some will even chance staying in the property with alarm going off as they will only spend a few mins searching for cash.
At the end of the day if anything helps them we should try to avoid that, at least I will.
Burglars may not yet be up to speed on buying stolen data for break-ins, but they are getting more tech savvy and using some clever tech to steel top end cars, not to mention frequency jammers has been around for some time now.
Not worrying is a choice! You choose not to, and that's your choice!!

 

[jaba]

Cat burgulers hacking smart water meters as part of casing a house..... I've heard it all now

Ok you keep saying Cat burglars and I really take offence to that as that just puts cats generally in a bad light

Not the same thing. But had a call from my ISP this year as there was a problem with them getting DD payments! (not my ISP of course) But of course due to TalkTalk not bothering to encrypt customer data they had every last bit of info about me including my TalkTalk account number, emails, address, DOB and so on.
One of those emails was very specific and was only registered with them, and one other very specific detail only given to them made it easy to know that they lost my personal data, but of course they deny it being the jokers they are.

 

[Ian H]

I've been told I'm paranoid so it must be true lol

Nah, that's just what THEY want you to think!!!

 

[75pete]

You make some good points jaba. The bottom line is, the meters are coming for all of us. Here is your chance to out think the things, make a few bob if your idea is a winner. I start the ball rolling.
Fit a water tank or an extra one .
Fit a motorised valve on to a cold main feed pipe that will supply this new tank.
Fit a timer that will control the motorised valve.
Run a pipe from the tank to water the flowers or ...
Simple type of idea, will show water use as you see fit
Now your turn

 

[bernardgreen]

One of the not so common criminals

Doing little more than holding a bag up to the front door of a house, this is a thief stealing a BMW.

Days after a Mercedes was said to have been taken in a similar way, the £60,000 BMW X5 vanished from its owners’ drive as they slept.

The thieves were caught on CCTV using some sort of transmitting device inside the bag which is thought to extend the signal from the car’s keyless fob which was inside the house.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4456992/Shocking-moment-car-hackers-steal-60-000-BMW.html

 

[Dan Robinson]

And this relates to smart water meters how?

 

[bernardgreen]

And this relates to smart water meters how?

It is an incident that makes it clear that there are criminals with the skills and knowledge to take full advantage of loop holes in supposedly secure systems. If there is a weakness in the security of the data exchanges with telemetering water meters then criminals will exploit these loopholes if they can profit from it.

 

[Dan Robinson]

How are they going to profit from knowing when someone flushes the toilet.

 

[jaba]

One of the not so common criminals

Doing little more than holding a bag up to the front door of a house, this is a thief stealing a BMW.

Days after a Mercedes was said to have been taken in a similar way, the £60,000 BMW X5 vanished from its owners’ drive as they slept.

The thieves were caught on CCTV using some sort of transmitting device inside the bag which is thought to extend the signal from the car’s keyless fob which was inside the house.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4456992/Shocking-moment-car-hackers-steal-60-000-BMW.html

Yeah that's the tech I was referring to. It's a simple hack and an example of a company making a stupid mistake in the design of the alarm and/or key fob that could be exploited.
Mercedes was the one I saw nicked in under 30 seconds so I would many new cars have the same stupid tech installed.
You can disable that feature on the Mercedes model in question I saw, but most people lets face it will not do that.

 

[bernardgreen]

How are they going to profit from knowing when someone flushes the toilet.

The data resolution will not be that detailed. Transmitting more than once a day would result in a short battery life.
If the resolution was one transmission per week then it could indicate an empty house with the owners / tenants on holiday.

 

[John D v2.0]

This thread is pure gold!

Why are the thieves forking out for WiFi analysis tools for water meters? The amount of people who turn off all their lights when they're out, they can just use old fashioned eyes to know you're out! Leave a light on upstairs when you're out as no one sits in their downstairs hall, then you can start worrying about water meter hackers.

Low hanging fruit, just don't be the obvious one.

 

[jaba]

This thread is pure gold!

Why are the thieves forking out for WiFi analysis tools for water meters? The amount of people who turn off all their lights when they're out, they can just use old fashioned eyes to know you're out! Leave a light on upstairs when you're out as no one sits in their downstairs hall, then you can start worrying about water meter hackers.

Low hanging fruit, just don't be the obvious one.

I wish it was I would be rich by now LOL

But like I said in a previous post I think it more likely of bulk data theft to be the issue just like the other data thefts I referred to earlier!

You are 100% right about people turning lights out when away from home, even for extended periods of time, that's how my neighbours got broken into.

But data hacks were once just a myth, then an annoyance and now almost a daily occurrence with some of them including half of the US population!
If people want to stick their heads in the ground and not let it bother them, then I'm fine with that, but
I choose not to.
There is not enough being done to protect data or equipment, e.g the recent NHS hack, or the various fitness app and gadgets, or the baby monitors/cams, or even Volkswagen and Cheating Software hack done to their own cars, list goes on. Some of this not that a big a deal, but some of it is a big problem.
If a spotty teen decides to hack a website and tag it that's no big deal, but if someone can hack the NHS or the appoints database in a very big way and screw with that I hate to think the mess that would cause.
So looking after your data and your privacy is a choice, I'm not trying convert anyone, do what makes you happy, and I'll stay with being labeled paranoid, and when one day a major system goes down to a hack or all your bank details are stolen and maybe your voice recording to access your bank accounts or thumb prints from your phones, or maybe even water statistics sold showing when you might be on your hols the same time every year don't say no one warned you
Be happy people.

 

[Ian H]

I would hope if my bank ever got hacked, that the hacker would have a sense of humour and clear my overdraught