Information security implementation difficulties in critical infrastructures: Smart metering case

In recent years critical infrastructures have witnessed rapid developments in the way their services are being implemented and delivered to consumers; this was instigated by the adaptation of the latest technologies in IT. An example of such an infrastructure is smart metering in the energy sector. Despite the evident advantages of such transformation, this lead to the emergence of new challenges facing these infrastructures, such as preserving the security of the information of these systems. Common security implementation practices involve retrofitting security measures into the system rather than incorporating it in early stages of system development life cycle. In this paper we give a brief overview of the consequences resulting from information security breaches, in addition to presenting the main causes behind addressing information security as an after-thought in an ad-hoc manner.