cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10061950
Security researchers from the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) have exposed critical vulnerabilities in Hoymiles solar inverters that allow attackers to remotely control, manipulate, or destroy hundreds of thousands of solar installations across Europe. The Chinese manufacturer holds roughly 20 percent of the European microinverter market, making the security flaw a widespread threat to balcony power plants and small rooftop solar systems.
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During experimental tests, a modified handheld scanner located two dozen foreign inverters and their identification numbers within 20 minutes. In Augsburg, Hunz identified 42 hackable systems within just one hour. The radio signals can travel several hundred meters, making it feasible to mount attack equipment on drones for systematic scanning of residential areas.
Once attackers have the serial numbers, they can switch inverters on or off, alter power limits, and inject malware through an unprotected firmware update command. Tampering with sensitive network parameters or erasing bootloader memory could lead to fires, electrical accidents, or device destruction requiring physical repair.
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The CCC informed Hoymiles [which is headquartered in China] about the vulnerability in February but received no initial response. Only after the German Federal Office for Information Security contacted the Chinese authority CNCERT did Hoymiles react at the end of June. The company announced a security update for mid-October.
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Every civilization ever has been self-centered, so honestly I’m not that torn up about it. Europe is more globally/internationally-focused than most of the world.
Why do you think it hosts the UN headquarters, ICC headquarters, and so many other IGO headquarters? It’s the only multi-national federation that I know of and is part of the largest and most widespread defense pact in the world.
Clearly people want to live there, otherwise they’d be migrating to BRICS nations and Northern Africa. So it must be doing something right.
What’s wrong with a civilization being self-centered? Especially when most of the critique it’s received regarding previous centuries was that it was too expansionist?