Hardware & IoT Security Testing
Firmware extraction, fault injection, and side-channel analysis on IoT, embedded, and silicon, performed hands-on by offensive hardware experts.
Connected products fail in the physical layer that most testing never reaches. Extractable firmware, an open debug port, a secure boot that a voltage glitch can skip, a cryptographic key that leaks through power consumption: these are the flaws attackers use to clone devices, forge trust, and pivot into the systems behind them. We assess IoT and embedded devices the way a determined adversary would, combining interface analysis and firmware reverse engineering with the advanced silicon attacks (fault injection and side-channel analysis) that break real secure elements.
What is hardware security testing?
Hardware security testing is the assessment of a physical device down to its firmware, chips, and internal communications. We open the device, pull firmware off flash, connect to debug interfaces like UART and JTAG, sniff bus traffic, and attack the protections built into silicon. It answers a question a software pentest cannot: what can an attacker do once they hold the hardware in their hands? We do not sell you a scanning appliance to run yourself. Our engineers do the work on the bench and hand you evidence-backed findings.
Key Capabilities
Firmware Extraction & Reverse Engineering
We dump firmware from flash and debug ports, then reverse it for hardcoded secrets, weak crypto, and exploitable logic.
Debug & Bus Interface Testing
UART, JTAG, SWD, SPI, and I2C: we find and exploit the physical interfaces manufacturers forget to lock down.
Fault Injection (Glitching)
Voltage, clock, and electromagnetic glitching to bypass secure boot, lift read-out protection, and skip security checks.
Side-Channel Analysis
Power and electromagnetic analysis (DPA / CPA) to recover cryptographic keys a chip believes are protected.
IoT & Embedded Penetration Testing
Full device assessment across hardware, firmware, and wireless protocols (BLE, Zigbee, CAN) as one connected system.
Secure Boot & Crypto Review
We attack the chain of trust and the cryptographic implementation, not just check that a feature is present.
Who needs hardware security testing?
Product companies that ship connected or embedded devices and need them assessed before launch or certification; manufacturers meeting ETSI EN 303 645, IEC 62443, or RED article 3.3 requirements; and operators running IoT, OT, or medical hardware who need to know what an attacker with physical access can achieve. If your product's security depends on hardware doing what it promises, this is how you prove it does.
How a Hardware Assessment Works
Scoping & Threat Model
We define the device, the attacker we are simulating, the standards in scope, and how many units we need.
Teardown & Reconnaissance
Board-level teardown, chip identification, and mapping of every exposed interface and test point.
Firmware & Interface Attacks
Extract firmware, reverse it, and exploit debug and bus interfaces to gain access and understanding.
Fault Injection & Side-Channel
Where the target warrants it, we run glitching and side-channel campaigns against secure boot and cryptography.
Protocol & Wireless Testing
Assess the radio and bus protocols the device speaks, from BLE and Zigbee to CAN and proprietary links.
Report & Remediation
Evidence-backed findings mapped to standards, with concrete, engineer-to-engineer remediation guidance.
How We Work
Hardware testing is bench work, done by hand. Our engineers use oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and dedicated fault-injection and side-channel rigs alongside soldering and micro-probing to reach the parts of a device that automated tools never touch. Every finding is reproduced and evidenced, so your team can see exactly how it was achieved and confirm the fix.
What you receive
Hardware Security Testing FAQ
The questions product and security leaders ask us most often before commissioning a hardware assessment, answered straight.
What is hardware security testing?
Hardware security testing is the security assessment of a physical device and the firmware, chips, and communications inside it. Where a classic penetration test focuses on software and networks, hardware testing opens the device itself: we extract firmware from flash, connect to debug ports such as UART and JTAG, intercept bus traffic, and attack the security mechanisms the manufacturer built into silicon. The result shows what an attacker with physical access, or simply a unit bought and put on their bench, can actually achieve.
What are fault injection and side-channel analysis?
They are two advanced hardware attack techniques we perform in-house. In fault injection (glitching) we deliberately disturb the power supply, clock, or an electromagnetic field at a precise moment to make a chip skip an instruction, for example to bypass secure boot or lift a read-out protection. In side-channel analysis we measure a chip's power consumption or electromagnetic emissions while it performs cryptography, and recover secret keys from those measurements using techniques such as DPA and CPA. Both are the attacks that have broken real secure elements and payment chips.
Which devices do you test?
IoT and smart-home devices, embedded and industrial (OT) systems, medical devices, automotive components and ECUs, payment and smart cards, hardware security modules, and bare chips and secure elements. If it has a circuit board, a microcontroller, or firmware, we can assess it. For product companies we often test a device before it ships; for operators we assess equipment already running in the infrastructure.
How is this different from a normal penetration test?
A regular pentest targets software, web, and network from the outside. Hardware security testing goes the other way: inward, down to the level of the chip. It needs different equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, glitch and side-channel rigs, soldering and micro-probing tools) and different expertise. The two are complementary: the full picture of a connected product emerges when the hardware, the firmware, and the accompanying cloud and app layer have all three been tested.
Do you align with standards like ETSI EN 303 645 and IEC 62443?
Yes. We align the assessment to the relevant framework: ETSI EN 303 645 for consumer IoT, IEC 62443 for industrial and OT systems, the EU Radio Equipment Directive (RED) article 3.3 for wireless products, and NIST IR 8259 for IoT manufacturers. You receive findings that map directly to the requirements you must meet, together with the underlying technical evidence.
Do you need the physical device, and how many?
Yes, hardware testing is hands-on. We ideally work with several units of the device, because some techniques such as fault injection can be destructive or render hardware unusable. During scoping we agree how many units are needed, whether we work under NDA, and whether the work happens in our lab or on your site.
How much does hardware security testing cost?
Every hardware assessment is scoped per device and per objective; there is no fixed price list. Cost depends on the complexity of the device, the depth of the assessment (from interface mapping to full silicon attacks with fault injection), and the standards you are testing against. A scoping call of typically 30 minutes produces a fixed-scope written proposal within a few working days.
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