A smart meter is a digital electricity, gas, or water meter that records usage in detail and can send that data to utility systems over a communications network. Unlike a basic meter, it may support remote reading, time-based pricing, outage reporting, and sometimes remote connect or disconnect functions. In modern grids, smart meters help operators understand demand patterns and coordinate flexible consumption, storage, and demand response.
In cyber security, smart meters matter because they sit at the edge of critical infrastructure and combine measurement, communications, and control. Attackers may try to tamper with readings, disrupt telemetry, abuse weak authentication, or pivot through meter management systems into broader utility networks. Defenders focus on device integrity, encrypted communications, strong key management, secure firmware updates, and logging that can detect anomalies in consumption or command traffic. Good meter security supports both billing accuracy and grid stability.