IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

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.

Other tags to include on the question to narrow the scope include

Servers

Network

For questions on the following topics, please use the appropriate tags instead of .

561 questions
115
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6 answers

What would one need to do in order to hijack a satellite?

I realise this borders on sci-fi, but there's been some interesting demonstrations regarding security of various satellites. What would be required to hack a satellite (in general terms, any hack really)? Are they all basically connected in the…
Incognito
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102
votes
8 answers

How can I reliably erase all information on a hard drive?

As storage technologies change over time, using different encodings and remappings to deal with sector errors, the best way to permanently erase/wipe/shred data changes also. Methods for flash drives and other solid-state drives are covered nicely…
nealmcb
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102
votes
9 answers

Buying a "Used" Router

I am buying a "new" router from an open-box sale at a company that liquidates eCommerce returns. Plan to use it for a home network at cottage. I'm a bit nervous that it could have been modified by whoever had it last. What are the main risks in…
GWR
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99
votes
5 answers

What is the benefit of having FIPS hardware-level encryption on a drive when you can use Veracrypt instead?

The expensive one: https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010873750/ironkey-basic-s1000 The cheap one: https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010887912/datatraveler-100-g3 Over 14,000 SEK difference in price. Same company (Kingston). Same USB standard (3).…
Taeyang
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96
votes
6 answers

How do you destroy an old hard drive?

How do you destroy an old hard drive? To be clear, unlike questions Secure hard drive disposal: How to erase confidential information and How can I reliably erase all information on a hard drive? I do not want to erase the data and keep the hard…
Xonatron
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80
votes
8 answers

How is 'Removing RAM' a security risk?

Today I was watching a video on 'Ethical Hacking' where, while discussing hardware attacks, the narrator said: Removing RAM or components from a desktop or a laptop Here's a screenshot: I understand that removing stuff like storage drives is a…
undo
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69
votes
7 answers

Is it possible the person sitting across from me at Starbucks was trying to hack my laptop?

I was using my laptop at a Starbucks on a table, and a person was using a laptop on the same table across from me, a couple seats to my side. He flicked some plastic thing across the table towards my laptop. What really freaked me out was he then…
Murvin
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67
votes
7 answers

Can RAM retain data after removal?

Is it possible for RAM to retain any data after power is removed? I don't mean within a few minutes such as cold boot Attacks but rather 24 hours plus. Working with classified systems the policy always seems to treat RAM the same as disks and must…
MattP
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62
votes
15 answers

Emergency method to erase all data off a machine within seconds

Imagine you are carrying highly sensitive information with you, maybe on a mission in a war zone. You get in an ambush and quickly need to erase all the files before they fall in the wrong hands. This has to happen within seconds. What devices are…
user238815
61
votes
5 answers

What are the risks of buying a used/refurbished computer? How can I mitigate those risks?

I bought a used computer that appears to be wiped clean, but can I be sure?
PBeezy
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60
votes
7 answers

Closed source binary blobs in chipsets - privacy threat?

I wanted to buy a Librem Purism 13 because I care about my privacy and generally wanted a laptop to test Linux on. However, I was advised against it because it uses Intel i5 processors which contain binary blobs. From what I understand binary blobs…
user113581
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58
votes
6 answers

Can wiped SSD data be recovered?

I was reading another post on destroying IDE drives, and how you could remove data, wipe it, or just destroy the drive. The removed data would still be there in some state, although not easily reachable without software. Wiped data is just removed…
cutrightjm
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56
votes
13 answers

Is it possible to turn a computer into a bomb?

I know this newspaper article sounds absurd. Even if a machine is compromised we (should) have hardware safe guards in all our devices to prevent the software from damaging the hardware. But is it possible to make a computer explode or catch fire?…
rook
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54
votes
8 answers

How reliable is a write protection switch on a USB flash drive?

I'm currently using a USB flash drive with a live distribution. At times I would plug it into terminals I cannot trust. My threat model here is solely the risk of unauthorized modifications to the live distribution image on the flash drive.…
Karol J. Piczak
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53
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7 answers

How are GPUs used in brute force attacks?

I have read that GPUs can be used in brute force attacks? But how can this be done and is there a need for any other hardware devices (hard disks for instance)? Note: I'm more interested in web application security, but I don't want to put on…
Mahmood Muhammad Nageeb
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