https://www.foxnews.com/tech/another-home-thermostat-found-vulnerable-to-attack
A network cable connection to any thermostat is still a safer and overall less expensive long term choice.
https://www.tntech.edu/news/releases/22-23/tech-tapped-to-lead-multi-state-consortium-on-electric-grid-modernization-backed-with-largest-grant-in-tech-history.php
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sponsor-story/tennessee-tech/2023/11/22/tennessee-techs-research-will-impact-hundreds-of-businesses/71658586007/
"This is expected to include seven rural electric utilities, one energy tech startup, 60 electrical engineering firms and 400 freelance software developers. The work will impact 191 counties across Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia."
"Students will experiment in a real-time simulated environment so electric utilities can provide cost-effective testing and solutions prior to the implementation."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-christmas-electric-grid-emergency-11672091317
Surrendering control of an HVAC thermostat to an electricity company enables them to change the temperature settings as they see fit.
Maintaining personal control of an HVAC thermostat is a wise choice.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/04/insteon-finally-comes-clean-about-its-sudden-smart-home-shutdown/
Another strong reason why proprietary firmware is a bad idea.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-russian-government-employees-charged-two-historical-hacking-campaigns-targeting-critical
It is difficult to believe the need for greater security in energy infrastructure could be stated more clearly.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60796131
"Millions of households are facing a 54% rise in the cost of a typical annual gas and electricity bill..."
We discussed deeply when we designed GNU remotecontrol the reality of rising energy costs pushing consumer purchasing decisions to the point of genuine consumer pain. All energy costs have perhaps the most direct impact seen in food production costs. The choice between enough food and enough energy in 2022 is a decision many could not fathom only five years ago.
The Ukraine matter in play now is convenient for economic sanctions. There was no winter in Europe when the sanctions were launched. The sanctions will not last after September when cold returns and the need for more fossil fuels return to heat homes.
Energy suppliers do not want energy efficiency as consumption efficiency decreases all sales. It is clear commercialization is not going to solve the energy management needs of the world today. The answer is found in using new tools to help the logic system that is not working logically now.
Now is the time for free and open-source software to be used in helping consumers reduce their energy costs to heat their homes, their businesses, and public dwellings.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/corrections-amplifications-11633728902
The editor of the Wall Street Journal has retracted their article about the new Google Nest Thermostat feature by issuing a public correction announcement.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-rolls-out-emission-curbing-tools-for-nest-thermostat-11633503660
This offering from Google is false advertising. There is no means for an electricity customer to select the source of the electricity provided to their premises.
https://9to5google.com/2021/05/04/nest-thermostat-migration-google-home-app-bug/
Nest Thermostat bug disables Google Home app control with endless account migration loop.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-strong-arms-partners-across-multiple-businesses-11618410439
"Amazon.com Inc. last year told smart-thermostat maker Ecobee it had to give the tech giant data from its voice-enabled devices even when customers weren’t using them."
"Amazon responded that if Ecobee didn’t serve up its data, the refusal could affect Ecobee’s ability to sell on Amazon’s retail platform..."
https://9to5google.com/2020/10/30/nest-thermostats-hvac-monitoring/
"Filter reminders (based on run time)"
Google has forced a new monitoring technology approach on their devices to the users who rent the devices due to an inability to own the device. The new Google approach to HVAC thermostat monitoring of a premises has a significant observation vacuum in their logic.
GNU remotecontrol accounted for overcoming the filter change obstacle from the conceptual days of the software project.
https://www.gnu.org/software/remotecontrol/manual/remotecontrol.html#Proliphix-Alarms
Filter Change
"This example is an excellent illustration of the value gained by having a Remote Motoring Server, with its fully configurable and flexible alarm functionality, watching your network, your devices, and anything else you can monitor."
The outcome of the new forced monitoring technology approach from Google leaves the device renters in a position where they cannot understand the operational status of their HVAC systems.
https://support.google.com/googlenest/thread/44445328?hl=en
"...all Nest account users who have not enrolled in two-factor authentication or migrated to a Google account to take an extra step by verifying their identity via email when logging in to their Nest account."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-moves-to-block-imports-of-some-power-equipment-11588346518
U.S. Moves to Ban Use of Some Foreign Power Gear
Timothy Puko
WASHINGTON—President Trump declared a national emergency for the nation’s power grid Friday, and signed an order to ban the import and use of equipment that poses a threat to national security if installed in U.S. power plants and transmission systems.
The move boosts U.S. efforts to protect the grid from being used as a weapon against American citizens and businesses, attacks that could have “potentially catastrophic effects,” Mr. Trump said in the order. While the order doesn’t name any country, national-security officials have said that Russia and China have the ability to temporarily disrupt the operations of electric utilities and gas pipelines.
The executive order gives the Energy Secretary more power to prevent the use of such equipment that is influenced by foreign adversaries or creates an “unacceptable risk to the national security.” It also gives the secretary responsibility over determining what parts of the system are already at risk and possibly need to be replaced.
U.S. officials will later determine what equipment is most at risk. But they will examine anything used at power plants and the nation’s transmission system, potentially including what goes into the grid’s transformers and substations, said a senior Energy Department official.
The move aims to shore up a potential vulnerability in a power supply that depends extensively on foreign-made parts. Officials are expected to use U.S. intelligence agencies’ threat assessments to help determine what equipment is most likely a risk and what may need to be banned, the official said.
Government agencies have warned repeatedly that the nation’s electricity grid is an attractive target for overseas hackers. The U.S. blamed the Russian government for a hacking campaign in 2017.
While some of these threats date back more than a decade, they have intensified in recent years. The fear is that U.S. adversaries could cut power and heat to U.S. consumers and businesses as an unconventional weapon, federal officials have said.
“It is imperative the bulk-power system be secured against exploitation and attacks by foreign threats,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a statement. “This Executive Order will greatly diminish the ability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.”
The administration is taking action specifically because of those prior efforts to infiltrate U.S. electric and natural-gas systems, which intelligence agencies say they have linked directly to Russia and China, the official said. The process will help determine which countries pose the highest risk.
The administration’s risk assessments from the past two years have pointed to power plants and the transmission grid as the most vulnerable parts of the electricity system, leading the administration to focus action there, the official said.
Under the president’s order, the Energy Secretary will work within the administration to set criteria for what power companies can safely purchase from international vendors. The secretary will create a task force to establish procurement policies and possibly a process for prequalifying international vendors to sell products for U.S. systems.
The power industry’s supply chain has been a growing problem for about 15 years because of increased outsourcing, an issue industry officials widely recognize, the administration official said. For example, though power transformers are the backbone of the U.S. system, most aren’t made in the U.S. nor is there any capability to make certain types of them, the official added.
“We need to be thoughtful and rigorous in our analysis to mitigate the risk associated with supply chains that we don’t control,” the official said.
The Trump administration has made addressing those types of risks a priority across several industries. Officials have frequently cited threats from countries, especially China and Russia, that give financial support to suppliers in telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, nuclear power, and rare-earths mining and processing, and may have influence over them.
A Wall Street Journal investigation published last year revealed that Russian hackers looking to gain access to critical American power infrastructure were able to penetrate the electrical grid by targeting subcontractors to the system.
Methods including planting malware on sites of online publications frequently read by utility engineers to help Russian operatives slip through hidden portals used by utility technicians, in some cases getting into computer systems that monitor and control electricity flows.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com