Privacy-Preserving Aggregation in the Smart Grid

Abstract

The introduction of information and communication technologies to the traditional energy grid offers advantages like efficiency, increased reliability, resilience, and better control of demand-response, while on the other hand poses customers' privacy at risk. By using information collected by a smart meter, an attacker can deduce whether a house is empty from its residents, which devices are being used, residents' habits and so on. In order to cope with such cases, many privacy-preserving aggregation solutions have been proposed that allow aggregation, while at the same time protect individual readings from attackers. In this book chapter, the authors provide a critical review of such methods, comparing them and discussing advantages and disadvantages.