Researchers: Electricity smart meters used in Spain can be hacked

Millions of network-connected electricity meters used in Spain are susceptible to cyberattack by hackers, according to security researchers. The vulnerabilities could lead to electricity being terminated - or billing fraud - if hackers are able to access the smart meters.

The Spanish government has relied on these electricity meters to improve national energy efficiency, but didn't put a large enough emphasis on security efforts. The memory chips in the smart meters are reprogrammable and include flawed code, though the researchers won't outline what they did specifically until the problems are fixed.

"Oh wait? We can do this? We were really scared," said Javier Vazquez Vidal, a security expert involved in the smart meter research. "We started thinking about the impact this could have. What happens if someone wants to attack an entire country?"