NDSS 2025 – ReThink: Reveal The Threat Of Electromagnetic Interference On Power Inverters

The paper Rethink analyzes the security of photovoltaic inverters, which are crucial for transforming direct current from renewable energy sources to alternating current for the power grid. The security of these inverters can impact the stability of renewable energy sources and the power grid. Researchers from Zhejiang University discovered that embedded current and voltage sensors in photovoltaic inverters are vulnerable to electromagnetic interference of 1 GHz or higher. This vulnerability can lead to incorrect measurements and deceive control algorithms, potentially causing denial of service, physical damage, or reduced power output. The researchers designed ReThink, a system that can produce these consequences by emitting carefully crafted electromagnetic interference. They validated their findings on five off-the-shelf photovoltaic inverters and in a real-world microgrid by transmitting electromagnetic interference signals at a distance of 100 to 150 centimeters with a total power of 20 watts. The goal of this research is to raise awareness of the security of power electronic devices in renewable energy systems, which represent a new cyber-physical attack surface. To address these threats, the researchers provide hardware and software-based countermeasures. The paper was presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium, which aims to foster information exchange among researchers and practitioners of network and distributed system security. The symposium focuses on practical aspects of network and distributed system security, with a goal of encouraging the deployment and advancement of available security technologies.