Security News > 2020 > August > Black Hat 2020: Using Botnets to Manipulate Energy Markets for Big Profits
Researchers are warning that a new class of botnets could be marshaled and used to manipulate energy markets via zombie armies of power-hungry connected devices such as air conditioners, heaters, dryers and digital thermostats.
Researchers with the Georgia Institute of Technology laid out the scenario in a Black Hat 2020 virtual session Wednesday.
"To meet the demand for electrical energy, utility companies must predict future demand and purchase power from the day-ahead wholesale energy market at competitive prices," according to a Georgia Tech report on the research.
"Creating erroneous demand data to manipulate forecasts could be profitable to the suppliers selling energy to meet the unexpected demand, or the retailers or utilities buying cheaper energy from the real-time market," the report said.
Researchers said they are unaware of any specific attacks designed to manipulate energy markets.