I’ve been reading a lot about remote access and monitoring of UPS systems recently. It’s quite easy to do now. In the good old days you had dial up modems that you could call and interrogate the UPS, or the box of tricks could be configured to dial you when it received a problem signal from the UPS.
Now SNMP adapters have enabled the UPS to be connected to your network and can be monitored and even controlled by anybody who has access to that network. Here’s where a lot of the text has been about. Not about the ability to be able to monitor the UPS, but rather the security issue it poses.
A network managers worst nightmare
Many systems come with default security settings which apparently many people overlook when setting up the system. What happens is that any hacker with a bit of UPS knowledge gets into your network and not only does he try to plant a few viruses hear and there or extract some data, decides to switch everything off just for the hell of it. A nightmare scenario for any network manager.
I’ve even heard of some clients who are so scared of the possibility that they refuse any communications with the UPS at all, instead relying on the automatic starting of the gen sets in case of mains failure and visible and audible UPS alarms. This seems a bit unnecessary as monitoring the UPS by a web browser is a useful tool and can be secure provided the correct protocols are followed. Just remember that once SNMP is enabled the UPS is part of the network and your network security protocols should cover for this.