Questions tagged [hardware]
For attacks against, or best practices for physical components of an Information Technology system. It can consist of network equipment, servers, CPUs, hardware security module, smartcards, etc. When using this tag, also include an additional tag for the specific type of hardware.
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Simple setups for side-channel analysis
I'd like to test cryptographic implementations in FPGA against power analysis. Not being all that handy with hardware and such, I'm looking for an easy solution. What I've come across thus far:
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How exactly are hidraw 'Billboard' devices interrogated?
I have some USBHub ( Ethernet + HDMI + USB + VGA). When it doesn't have anything connected it exposes to Linux operating system device:
'hiddev0, hidraw1'
in opposite to HID mouse:
which is visible as ...
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2
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How does a validity check on a stylus-made signature compare to a validity check for a pen-made signature
In the old days, when signatures were used to sign cheques, there were people specialized in how to determine whether a signature came from a particular person or from a different person (forger).
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Rowhammer mitigations in current hardware and software
I've been looking into rowhammer attacks and mitigations and there are two (what seem to be) mitigations that I've seen that are actually implemented in currently available hardware and software, but ...
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TPM FAPI sealing data inside /dev
I am using TPM simulator in my local VM to test FAPI API and able to seal the important data inside directory ~/.local/share/tpm2-tss/user/keystore as per the path mentioned in config file /etc/fapi-...
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Can the microsoft basic optical mouse be modified to contain spyware or a keylogger if the attacker had physical access to the mouse? [duplicate]
I was given a mouse by someone who now i realized would want to hack me. It is the Microsoft basic optical mouse v2.0. Can this mouse be modified to inject spyware and malware onto my laptop?
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How can USB ports be dangerous? [duplicate]
I hear all this vague information about how USB ports are dangerous, because people can just stick in a stick with malware on it and Windows just happily runs it automatically, or something.
It's so ...
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Secondary disk safe to use after potential virus?
I've recently bought a new disk and made a fresh install on a home PC after having potential malware (or a very corrupted registry, whatever your take is on having numerous Blue Screens of Death, one ...
user130386
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Hardware TOTP system-on-chip with strongly guarded seed
I am looking for hardware TOTP system-on-chip, where it would not be possible for an adversary to extract the shared secret (TOTP seed in other words). I am researching an application, where one same ...
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Self-encrypting drive - eDrive vs ATA Security
Let's for a moment forget about the possible drawbacks of SEDs themselves. One of the upsides of SEDs is that the encryption key never leaves the drive but wouldn't using eDrive negate this advantage ...
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Making time(0) produce an error
I'm currently reviewing/reversing a software (coded in C) and it has a line like this :
time_t var = time(0);
My goal it to get this time(0) call to return -1.
(I cannot modify the parameter.)
...
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Is there spy hardware that can be attached to laptops and if so how to detect them?
A while back I lived in shared apartments. One day I returned to my room and found my laptop screen frame open. Since then I keep get log in attempts to my accounts.
I scanned my laptop with multiple ...
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2
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For someone who deals with dangerous files and websites frequently what is the way to avoid getting infected by spyware/virus permanently?
For someone who deals with dangerous files and websites frequently or even for the general user what is the way to avoid getting infected by spyware/virus permanently?
I am looking to buy a new laptop ...
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Why does certification for datacenter equipment test for TEMPEST?
I wonder why certification (common criteria and stuff like that) of security critical hardware that is meant to be used in datacenters (e.g. link encryptors) includes some tests related to TEMPEST ...
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NVMe Self Encrypting Drive - How to use ATA Security?
I own a Samsung 980 Pro which, according to its own specification, supports Class 0, TCG/Opal 2.0 and IEEE16667. Since it's an NVMe drive, I cannot use hdparm in order to set up class 0 encryption but ...
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SED specification for USB sticks?
As I got from my preliminary research, there is an established standard TCG Opal 2.0 which defines in specification the principles of SED encryption thus enabling the interoperability between vendors.
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Is there any guideline or procedure for 4G hardware equipement (4G landline phone and home Wifi router) security audit/assessment?
I need to perform a security audit/assessment on 4G LTE hardware equimements :
4G landline wireless phone (not android OS but with many features such as WiFi hotspot)
4G Wifi home router
Is there ...
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Need to leave computer in repair shop. How can I secure solid state drive contents?
I need to take my desktop into a PC repair shop and leave it for a few days. It would be easy for them to copy the drives without me knowing. I am running Windows 10 with a password but this doesn't ...
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Are there ways to mitigate the risks of using a Bluetooth/wireless keyboard when the device connected is next to it?
Normally, I avoid using any Bluetooth or wireless devices, especially HIDs, but for a project I am working on the only keyboards that will fit the size are Bluetooth and wireless keyboards, so I am ...
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How to secure against USB drives?
Is it possible to set up Windows in a way that plugging in external storage can't compromise the device/network?
To clarify, I would like to use the storage device to transfer data into the network. ...
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Can a mouse contain viruses? [duplicate]
My mouse dongle was plugged into a laptop infected with a Trojan Virus, is it a possibility for the mouse dongle to be infected?
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Remotely disable a laptop's ability to power on or charge?
If I loan out laptops to my employees to work remotely, such as Dr's, Nurses and other healthcare workers that generate sensitive information on patients, how can I remotely disable the laptop's ...
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Do mechanical keyboards only have non-modifiable firmware baked in?
I always used to use a mechanical keyboard to type. Recently, I found a hardware trojan in my keyboard's firmware.
Can mechanical keyboard firmware be modified?
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supply chain security - ways of detecting and deterring compromise at a lower level i.e., hardware class of vulnerabilities [duplicate]
Software supply chain focuses on software. How about hardware supply chain security? I refer to Compromise Hardware Supply Chain ("https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1195/003/").
I wish to ...
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Can somebody abuse my hardware's id's?
I know that game companies ban cheaters' hardware IDs so they wouldn't be able to play on their server anymore.
I also know that there are programs used so the client system sends a randomly made-up ...
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Can a pill be used to track a person's location?
In 2017, the FDA approved a pill with a digital sensor that can transmit information accessible by a web portal.
If a patient takes such a pill, can it be used by hackers to track the location of this ...
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How evil could an HDMI/VGA adapter be?
I recently bought a HDMI to VGA + Audio Out adapter on the internet for the purpose to playing Xbox on an old monitor. It came just inside a plastic bag, so I don't have any guarantees that the ...
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Bought a new Laptop. Can't reset. Is it Safe?
I recently bought a new laptop from a third-party seller on new egg. The seller states that it is "upgraded": "*We sell computers with upgraded configurations. If the computer has been ...
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What traces are left on a flash card reader after using it? [duplicate]
If one uses a micro SD card with a card reader on Windows, or on Linux, or on Android, would there be a way to forensically determine on which computer the card reader was used?
I know OS can log ...
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What traces are left on a USB stick after using it?
If one uses a FAT32-formatted USB stick on Windows, Linux, or Android, would there be a way to determine on which computer the USB stick was used by examining the USB stick?
I know OS can log which ...
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How common are firmware infections?
Hard drive firmware infections were documented in 2015:
The hacking tool, believed to be a product of the NSA, is significant because subverting the firmware gives the attackers God-like control of ...
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1
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Cross OS GPU based malware
I've been doing some research into GPU based malwares, and would like to know if there is a way to run them on a dual boot scenario with the code being executed only on one Operational System and be &...
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What does it take to brute force 42 hex characters [closed]
What does it take to brute force something like this
00f54a5851e9372b87810a8e60cdd2e7cfd80b6e31
I can brute force anything else like
iambad, blackapple1, etc
But how can I brute force something like ...
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Scanning for malicious hardware on display replacement for a smartphone
I recently bought a replacement display for my smartphone on ebay from a national supplier.
I later realized that it does not have the Huawei logo printed on it, but it is working fine.
There were ...
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Since TPM firmware is updatable can it be exploited by malicious hardware actors?
I have been reading about TPM for months and one thing seems to be odd. I noticed that TPM firmware can be updated in certain brands. Like "Lenovo" or this link which links a bunch of brands....
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Is there a hardware-constrained method for removing content from the internet?
I recently came across this viral post on Facebook:
As of the time of this question, the post has more than 37,000 likes, 33,000 shares and 1.5k comments. Most of the comments are positive, ...
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Using Hardware Encryption on NVME SSD used as the boot device
I have a question relating to implementing encryption of data at rest. This is possibly more suited to another stackexchange site, so please let me know where would be better to post if I'm a little ...
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Tricking a windows 10 computer into thinking a USB being plugged in is a mouse for code execution [closed]
Is it possible to "trick" a Windows 10 PC into thinking a flash drive is a mouse to execute code on the machine? If so, how?
Note: I'm not trying to do anything malicious. All of this is ...
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Are there any existing JTAG (hardware debugging) based malware detection systems, and if not, why?
JTAG
System software debug support is for many software developers the main reason to be interested in JTAG. Many silicon architectures such as PowerPC, MIPS, ARM, x86 built an entire software debug, ...
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Wondering if a USB dongle for gaming controller could have malware installed [duplicate]
I purchased a usb gaming controller used. It has a usb dongle that plugs into the PC and a I assume its bluetooth.
Is it possible for the USB dongle to contain a keylogger that starts up when I plug ...
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Open-Source Hardware Security Modules (HSM)
Are there any Open-Source Hardware Security Modules (meeting OSHWA requirements)?
I've worked with Utimaco HSMs, but I'm not a big fan of closed-source hardware -- especially when it comes to security ...
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Can data be stored anywhere else on a MacBook besides the SSD?
Imagine the following scenario: There exist all kinds of information on my SSD. Now I take away the SSD of my MacBook Pro, replace it, and reboot. I should have a MacBook that is on factory settings, ...
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How are hardware wallets and other hardware-based security devices audited?
One selling point of the Trezor crypto currency wallets is that they are, supposedly, "open source".
It is not clear to me exactly what assurance this provides, since I do not know what ...
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How secure is Heads for detecting tampering or infection of firmware or boot sector? (Pureboot)
I'm thinking of getting a Librem laptop with Pureboot which uses Heads (with the Librem key) for tamper detection. But I've heard rumours that there are weaknesses or vulnerabilities so I wanted to ...
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Has hackers ever used a microarchitectural side channel to launch an attack?
I'm a student of computer architecture and I just got through a class on Hardware Security.
We spent a considerable amount of time learning about microarchitectural side channels, reading papers on ...
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1
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Root of Trust - The general Mechanism of how RoT Authenticates higher levels of software
I've been reading many research articles about RoT - Root of Trust - for establishing a chained root of trust going up from BIOS to the Kernel.
However, most of the article go briefly on how RoT works ...
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Is it possible to crack a laptop's encrypted hard disk?
In a talk about a lost or stolen laptop, it is said that:
even with hard drive encryption, eventually they can crack these secrets
But strong encryption is practically impossible to break. For ...
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Is there a downside to using a Ledger Nano S or X as both a crypto wallet and a 2FA key?
Newbie question, I guess. I want to get a cold wallet for increased security. I also want to start using hardware 2FA (e.g. for e-mail). I see that Ledger advertises 2FA capabilities ('FIDO U2F') on ...
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What are the dangers of a firmware malware in 2021 and is it possible?
I was reading a few articles online about how some firmware can be altered into malware and essentially infect a hardware equipment for its entire life time.
Like almost all SSDs in the industry ...
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secure Microphone Blocker for Apple devices (macOS and iOS)
Quote from Hardware for Protecting Privacy and Security
Microphone Blocker
A microphone blocker is a device that prohibits audio hacking, in the form of a hardware accessory for a smartphones,
...
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