Supplier's Category: All Cybersecurity for Hardware: Penetration testing for IoT and ICS
Cybersecurity for hardware covers penetration testing for IoT and industrial control systems (ICS) — actively probing a connected device’s firmware, network interfaces, and physical access points for exploitable vulnerabilities. It’s distinct from software-only security testing because it includes physical and firmware attack surfaces.
Hardware-aware penetration testing requires skills most generic cybersecurity firms don’t have, since it involves physical interfaces (JTAG, UART) alongside network attacks.
- Confirm the firm has specific IoT/embedded penetration testing experience, not just enterprise network security
- Ask whether testing includes physical attack surfaces (debug ports, firmware extraction), not just network-facing vulnerabilities
- Check what deliverable you get — a prioritized remediation report, not just a raw vulnerability list
Related terms: IoT penetration testing, ICS/SCADA security testing, firmware security analysis, hardware attack surface assessment, JTAG/UART exploitation testing, secure boot verification, vulnerability disclosure process
When to test for hardware security
Security testing is most useful before a product ships, when vulnerabilities can still be fixed in firmware rather than patched in the field at scale.
Typical sequence
- Threat modeling during design, identifying likely attack surfaces
- Penetration testing on pre-production hardware and firmware
- Periodic re-testing as firmware updates are released