Security News > 2020 > August > High-Wattage IoT Botnets Can Manipulate Energy Market: Researchers
A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has demonstrated how, in theory, a malicious actor could manipulate the energy market using a botnet powered by high-wattage IoT devices.
The Georgia Tech researchers say a threat actor could manipulate the electricity market the same way financial markets can be manipulated: generate an event that causes prices to drop or rise, and buy when the price is low and sell when the price is high.
The researchers cited a report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the United States that said there had been 16 potential market manipulation cases in 2018, with 14 of them closed without any action taken due to no evidence of manipulation being found.
The researchers believe that an attacker who has control of a high-wattage IoT botnet can slightly change demand in the power grid, thus impacting market prices.
One potential attacker could be a market player, which launches an attack in an effort to manipulate prices for their own profit.