When done with proper contracting and documentation, losing a company is not a problem, because either you put the spec and the algorithm on the table, and people implement it to get certified, or you get the technical docs to use when/if the company goes out of business.
Practically, it doesn’t do anything more complicated. Device provides you an ID without a password, but accepts everything else with a password. In many countries, if not all, infrastructure equipment is already protected property. Nobody except the utility company touch, repair, reconfigure that meter, anyway.
Overcomplicating stuff is indeed a problem, and it’s a combination of poor engineering plus monetary greed in most cases. Also it’s a side effect of evolution of technology. I would love to discuss it to death, but this is not the place and I don’t have much time for it either.
Practically, it doesn’t do anything more complicated. Device provides you an ID without a password, but accepts everything else with a password. In many countries, if not all, infrastructure equipment is already protected property. Nobody except the utility company touch, repair, reconfigure that meter, anyway.
Overcomplicating stuff is indeed a problem, and it’s a combination of poor engineering plus monetary greed in most cases. Also it’s a side effect of evolution of technology. I would love to discuss it to death, but this is not the place and I don’t have much time for it either.