Endpoint Security , Hardware / Chip-level Security , Internet of Things Security

Exploring the Latest Security Innovations at Hardwear.io

As devices become increasingly connected, cyberthreats are on the rise. Threat actors are looking for ways to hack virtually any device to access sensitive information. Increasingly, they are targeting a host of personal devices including smartphones, smart home devices, electric vehicles and even medical devices. In this constantly changing threat environment, security measures must evolve to stay ahead of attackers.

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Showcasing the latest innovations in hardware security, experts from more than 100 companies worldwide have gathered this week at Hardwear.io in Amsterdam. The annual event and hardware hackathon examines current and future challenges in hardware security and explores topics including cyber investigations, side channel attacks, symmetric cryptography, fuzzing, hidden vulnerabilities in automotive mechanisms, and hacking electric charging stations.

Notable speakers at the Oct. 21-25 event are Europol’s Cybercrime Centre's Team Leader of Forensics Donatas Mazeika, cybersecurity researcher Daniel Genkin, hardware security specialist Philippe Teuwen, NinjaLab Co-Founder Thomas Roche, and Riscure CTO Jasper van Woudenberg, co-author of "The Hardware Hacking Handbook."

Growing Demand of Hardware Security

For any hardware that uses software to function, memory is the key - a box from which information can be taken out whenever needed. But when different components don’t work well together, it leads to vulnerabilities hackers can compromise.

Onur Mutlu, professor of computer science at ETH Zurich, will share the rapidly evolving changes to computer architecture, with more specialized and parallel hardware systems being developed to handle large-scale data tasks and improve system performance.

Emerging technologies such as memory-based processing and quantum computing have the potential to make systems even more complex. But today, hardware security issues at the foundational level are raising concerns, potentially jeopardizing even long-established technologies like speculative execution and memory scaling.

Austria-based security researchers Andreas Kogler and Jonas Juffinger will guide attendees through a decade of rowhammer attacks, a notorious exploit hackers use to manipulate memory, even risking the data integrity of the piece of hardware that is attacked. This is particularly significant risk for IT security teams and hardware manufacturers.

Just as these attacks target traditional computing systems, emerging products such as electric vehicles are also vulnerable to hardware-based cyberthreats. Researcher Wilco van Beijnum and ElaadNL Test Automation Engineer Sebastiaan Laro Tol will share the risks posed by EV chargers. For example, an electric vehicle and an EV charger communicate over a charging cable using the HomePlug protocol, but if the charging station's settings aren't properly configured, cybercriminals could access some internal services through the charging cable.

Secure elements generate and store secrets, and execute cryptographic operations. Their security is evaluated to the highest level, or Common Criteria, and is often considered inviolable, even in worst-case scenarios, which is why complex secure systems rely on them. Industries such as banking, telecommunications and automotive rely heavily on secure elements to protect sensitive data. These components are essential in securing transactions, safeguarding communication networks and ensuring the integrity of connected vehicle systems. They also play a crucial role in the development of secure IoT devices across various sectors.

Moving in the Right Direction

Businesses must not only take these threats seriously but also invest in advanced cybersecurity measures, hardware defense and secure encryption protocols to protect themselves and their consumers. This gives a scope for more platforms to provide cybersecurity solutions too. In fact, in sectors like healthcare, automotive and finance, cybersecurity is not only a necessity but an opportunity. Companies offering customized, hardware-focused security solutions are primed to shape the future of these industries, driving growth and innovation in areas like secure IoT ecosystems and advanced encryption technologies.

Hardwear.io traces its roots in the Netherlands back to 2015. At the conference, IT and cybersecurity professionals from a wide range of industries - automotive, healthcare, semiconductor, industrial control systems, and government and defense - with a big stake in hardware security will be exploring ways to secure millions of devices in an evolving threat landscape.