Threat, Vulnerabilities and Mitigations: Hardware Vulnerabilities

Question 1

What are the common console and debugging tools?

Answer 1

Hardware hacking often targets console and debugging tools, including:

JTAG: short for Joint Test Action Group.

UART: short for universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter.

I2C: short for Inter-Integrated Circuit.

SPI: short for serial peripheral interface.

How to figure out the diagram and pinpoint location of devices?

For information on devices, you can check the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ID Database for documentation: https://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid:

Each device has a sticker with FCC ID on it.

Example is My TrendNet Router FCC ID: XU8-TEW731BRV2. Select Detail, and then select Internal Photos to view pictures of the inside of the device.

Question 2

What is JTAG used for?

Answer 2

JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) is a standard for verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture. The standard provides a way to access the digital signals inside a device, enabling hardware engineers to perform boundary-scan testing, in-system programming of devices, and debugging of embedded systems.

Question 3

What is UART used for?

Answer 3

UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) is a hardware communication protocol used for asynchronous serial communication between devices. It converts parallel data from a CPU into serial form for transmission and vice versa. UARTs are commonly used in microcontrollers, modems, and other devices to facilitate communication over serial ports.

Question 4

What is I2C used for?

Answer 4

I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) is a multi-master, multi-slave, packet-switched, single-ended, serial communication bus widely used for attaching lower-speed peripheral ICs to processors and microcontrollers in short-distance, intra-board communication. It is often used in embedded systems for communication between components such as sensors, displays, and memory devices.

Question 5

What is SPI used for?

Answer 5

SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) is a synchronous serial communication protocol used for short-distance communication, primarily in embedded systems. It operates in full duplex mode, enabling simultaneous data transmission and reception between a master device and one or more slave devices. SPI is commonly used for communication with peripherals such as sensors, SD cards, and display modules.

Question 6

What are the other hardware hacking attacks?

Answer 6

Firmware
Side-Channel Attacks
Supply-Chain Attacks
End-of-life attacks
Legacy

Question 7

What is Side-Channel attacks?

Answer 7

Side-channel attacks: Requires sophisticated hardware to do. And example is TEMPEST. These attacks analyze what the processor is doing based on:

Power consumption

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation

Sound

Timing

Question 8

What is Supply-chain attacks:

Answer 8

Supply-chain attacks: Attackers embed themselves into the supply chain, such as infecting computer chips. Examples:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2021-supermicro/

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/photos-of-an-nsa-upgrade-factory-show-cisco-router-getting-implant/?comments=1&comments-page=1

Question 9

What is end-of-life attacks?

Answer 9

End-of-life: Hardware eventually sundowns so need to start looking for an alternative.

Question 10

What is legacy attacks?

Answer 10

Legacy: Just because something still has support doesn’t mean should be using it, as could have weaknesses.