[laurentdc]

Hm, in my experience the difference between idle and 100% CPU usage on a modern ARM processor (e.g. Allwinner H3) is around 1 Watt. That's more or less what an LCD monitor in standby draws.

I wouldn't call that significant (as in, impacting the global energy consumption significantly) even if thousands of devices started the attack at the same time.

[drvdevd]

Would you call that detectable? Eespecially en masse. Perhaps a smart grid could detect these attacks in some way and dynamically adjust power to compromised devices?

[mjevans]

I wouldn't. The signal ratio to noise very likely just isn't there.

Remember, people regularly operate toaster ovens, microwaves, hairdryers, etc on a fluxuating basis, and THOSE tend to consume more like 1200+ Watts for a /single/ device.

[Splines]

Here's a real-world case of the above happening (tea kettles): http://www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/people/teatime...