Hardware Pentesting: Purpose and Importance

What is it Testing?

A specialized security expert performs a deliberate and controlled assessment of physical devices that could be connected to a network. They aim to uncover vulnerabilities in hardware components such as medical devices, kiosks, mobile devices, IoT devices, and operational technology (OT). During the test, security experts simulate attacks, searching for exposed sensitive hardware components, software flaws, or misconfigurations that could allow unauthorized access or compromise the integrity of these devices. The goal is to identify weaknesses and enhance the security posture of connected hardware.

Why is it important?

Devices often receive less specified security attention once implemented than applications and can be much more difficult to monitor and maintain from a security perspective.
Insecure hardware can provide the perfect bypass to a highly secure network. A security expert can provide extremely rare and specified input and perspective into the attack vectors available to malicious actors that could otherwise be totally impossible to foresee from a blue-team (defensive security) perspective because of the bias associated with deep understanding of the intended functionality of a product. Often, the only way to obtain the deep business-impact centered insight provided by Red Sentry’s hardware testing is to suffer an attack and the associated business impact in real-time.

Framework/Methodology

• RIOT

• IoTify

• Safety-First

• Secondary Waste

• OWASP Code Review Guide

Examples of attacks/findings

• Unpatched Firmware or Software

• Hardcoded Credentials

• Exposed Sensitive Data

• Insecure Deserialization

• Physical Weakness