UTILITY METER APPARATUS, DEVICE AND METHOD OF PROTECTING UTILITY METERS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

摘要

Device, system, and method of protecting utility meters and utility infrastructure; and particularly, for determining whether an electricity meter or associated electricity wires have been tampered with or have been physically switched or manipulated. An electricity meter includes a challenge transmitter to transmit a challenge message, via a wired electric cable, to a consumer-side responder that is located within a venue which receives electric power via the electricity meter. The electricity meter further includes a response receiver to receive a response message from the consumer- side responder via the wired electric cable, and to check the response message for correctness based on a shared secret that is known only to the electricity meter and to the consumer-side responder.