Securing Real-Time AI in Critical Infrastructure

How DeltaGrid Energy's network of Smart Meters, substations, edge IoT devices (PLCs, SCADA gateways, line monitors), and AI-driven control applications (hosted across AWS, Azure, and on-prem K3s clusters) were secured with Hopr's Enterprise Ultra platform.

Enterprise Ultra is an infrastructure platform that achieves a strategic upgrade for static security architectures.

Ultra deploys WoSPs across the enterprise application layer, with AMTD and Runtime Microsharding™ protecting all workloads across cloud environments and organizational domains.

CASE STUDY:
DeltaGrid Energy — Securing Realtime AI in IoT Infrastructure

In 2024, the energy sector saw a dramatic 70% surge in cyberattacks compared to the previous year.

Infrastructure managers and operators like DeltaGrid Energy faced a new wave of cyber threats that probed and attacked sensitive IoT devices, API endpoints, and AI control applications.

API Credential Theft
98% of workloads at DeltaGrid were talking over APIs. And the API endpoints leaked data due to key theft. Third party API users were the most vulnerable.
Session Hijacking
API Key theft was just the beginning. AI adversaries were discovering and weaponizing microservice communications in real time.
Third Party Access
Operating across AWS, Azure, and on-prem Kubernetes clusters gave DeltaGrid the real-time operating agility it needed — but it left it too exposed.

Hopr's Enterprise Ultra enables DeltaGrid Energy to secure its IoT devices, APIs, and AI applications without a loss of agility

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Cloud Native AMTD
Workloads performing sensitive financial transactions and risk modelling are protected from untrusted or malicious access. Untrusted access attempts are immediately discovered and rejected.
Ephemeral Credentials
Access credentials to application workloads requires ephemeral credentials that can only be known by trusted workloads. Threats can't find and re-use credentials — they’re obsolete when the session closes.
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Seamless Networking
IoT networks operate with frequent identity trust verification that enables seamless connectivity among device workloads in different environments — even with third parties.

AI Control for Dynamic Load Shedding

DeltaGrid uses real-time AI to detect energy usage. During a heat wave the AI reads data spikes and remotely instructs smart meters and HVAC control devices to reduce load in high-risk zones to prevent transformer overload.
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01
Data Collection via APIs

DeltaGrid collects data from smart meters and environmental sensors across the grid which continuously send telemetry (e.g., voltage, current, temperature, usage patterns) to DeltaGrid’s AI model hosted on AWS. The data is transmitted via APIs using static tokens or long-lived identity certificates, vulnerable to credential theft and session hijacking.

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02
AI Inference and Decisions

The AI model analyzes the data telemetry to predict hotspots or transformer stress points. It generates an automated decision to initiate load reduction in specific zones — targeting devices like thermostats or meters. Without real-time identity trust verification of API endpoints malicious data could be used when it arrives with a compromised token.

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Command Dispatch to Systems

Based on the decisions of its AI application, the DeltaGrid control system sends API instructions back to specific customer smart meters and connected devices to reduce the load or shift usage. Without identity trust verification, attackers could redirect or forge control commands, causing physical disruption or service denial.

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04
Acknowledgement and Feedback

The DeltaGrid smart meters and IoT devices acknowledge the command, and send updated operational status back to the AI system for ongoing analysis in a continuous feedback loop. A compromised or cloned IoT device can send false feedback without ephemeral identity verification and encrypted, tamper-evident telemetry, the system can be gamed.

IoT Access Control and Data Protection

DeltaGrid Energy's Solution — the Korvette

DeltaGrid Energy operates critical energy infrastructure across multiple US States and has a growing number of AI applications to process large amounts of sensor data and adjust control systems in real-time to avoid loss of service.
They ugpraded their security architecture with Enterprise Ultra to add dynamic protection at the edge with customers and other energy networks to build a Zero Trust network.

Enterprise Ultra  Application Network

Ultra is designed to meet Zero Trust Network Access principles and assure trust across all environments.

Traditional API Protection

DeltaGrid Energy's API protections could not verify identity trust, nor prevent AI-attacks that abused stolen API keys.

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Talk with and Expert to Learn More About the Ultra Platform

Schedule a call with one of our experts to learn more about the advantages and benefits of Ultra for your use case.
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Benefits for IoT Infrastructure

Exfiltrated API credentials 

Eliminate Cyber Risk. Enterprise Ultra defends critical infrastructure IoT devices from tampering and its AMTD capabilities shard the attack surface into many small, ephemeral pieces to confuse attackers.
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Exfiltrated API credentials 

Enforce Zero Trust by Default. Each API data transaction includes realtime identity trust verification and dynamic access credentials to ensure a high level of trust before data is shared.
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Exfiltrated API credentials 

Stronger Security Posture. Prevent credential theft and abuse with hopping credentials that make it nearly impossible for attackers to discover or exploit workload access and API endpoints.
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Exfiltrated API credentials 

Improved Compliance. Simple automation with built-in audit logs and immediate threat detection and rejection help meet regulatory and safety  requirements.
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Designed for IoT.
Ready for the Future.

Whether you’re connecting Energy, Water, Communications, or other critical infrastructure, Hopr's Enterprise Ultra delivers secure, compliant, and future proof protection.
Assure control of your IoT and data.
Shrink and animate your attack surface.
Guaranteed data confidentiality.
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See the WoSP in operation

Click the image at left to watch a 3:36 (min:sec) recorded demo of Hopr WoSPs protecting workload endpoints, end-to-end encrypting messages, and refusing access from untrusted connections.
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Hopr.co delivers Zero Trust, cloud-native, multi-cloud infrastructure purpose-built to protect high-value applications, APIs, and data across clusters, clouds, and organizations.

Hopr's Cloud Native Automated Moving Target Defense (AMTD) frequently hops workload access credentials and produces Runtime Microsharding™, a novel technique that shrinks and animates the attack surface—breaking it into very small, short-lived pieces (microshards)—that disrupt threat reconnaissance, block lateral movement, and render credential theft ineffective.

Hopr’s Workload Security Proxy (WoSP)—a lightweight, drop-in proxy—enforces Zero Trust at every transaction, and rejects all untrusted attempts to access a trusted workload.
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