Dive Summary:

• Another hacker with a smart meter tool gets the spotlight in Las Vegas this week, showing off software he developed to communicate with smart meters via optical ports.
• Don Weber, who works with the security firm InGuardians, planned to publicly present his OptiGuard software in January, but canceled his ShmooCon talk due to industry pressure.
• Instead, he is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the event Black Hat, where he will demonstrate how his software can identify potential security vulnerabilities in smart meters.

From the article:

Few things are as scandalous at computer-hacker conferences as the presentations that don’t happen.

Hackers face constant legal threats for their discoveries. So when someone plans to disclose an important security hole, but is forced to cancel the talk because of legal pressure, the episode is almost always mythologized. It’s remembered as another skirmish between “white hat” hackers who are trying to make technology safer, and companies and governments that want to protect their parochial interests. ...