Hardware Based Attacks: Protecting Critical Infrastructure

What is Hardware Based Security?

Hardware based security refers to the use of physical devices and embedded technologies to protect systems from cyber threats, especially those that target critical infrastructure. Unlike software-only defenses, hardware-based approaches provide deeper visibility, stronger integrity checks, and resistance to tampering, making them essential for high-assurance environments.

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, particularly in sectors like government, healthcare, finance, energy, and transportation, defending against hardware-based attacks has become a national security imperative. These sectors deliver essential public services and are frequent targets for disruption.

Adopting a Zero Trust security framework, paired with hardware-based protections, helps ensure that no device or user is implicitly trusted. Instead, access is continuously verified based on identity, context, and behavior.

Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security

Critical infrastructure is essential to a nation’s well-being, but its high value also makes it a prime target for malicious cybercriminals. Due to its importance, critical infrastructure is often the focus of attacks by hackers seeking to disrupt or sabotage essential services. As these infrastructures become more interconnected and reliant on technology, they are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, which can severely impact their operability.

Imagine if healthcare services were suddenly unavailable or financial institutions went offline, the results would be devastating. This is why sectors such as healthcare, finance, and energy invest heavily in protective measures to minimize attack vectors and reduce vulnerabilities. However, complete security remains elusive, and attackers constantly search for unaddressed blind spots. Among the most alarming threats are hardware based attacks, which exploit weaknesses in physical systems. To combat these growing risks, implementing hardware based security measures is vital to protect critical infrastructure from devastating breaches.

Hardware Based Attacks and Rogue Devices

Hardware based attacks exploit rogue devices that operate at the physical layer, evading detection by current security solutions. Spoofed peripherals disguise themselves as legitimate human interface devices (HIDs). Due to the limited visibility at the physical layer, these rogue devices are incorrectly recognized as the genuine devices they mimic.

Network implants also function at the physical layer and go undetected by network security solutions, including Network Access Control (NAC), meaning they don’t trigger any security alerts. This makes them particularly dangerous, as they can silently infiltrate systems without raising suspicion.

For a hardware based attack to succeed, the perpetrator must gain physical access to the target system. Once a rogue device is inserted, however, the attacker can gain remote access to critical resources and data. Depending on the device used, an attacker can carry out several harmful attacks. Including data theft, espionage, man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks, Evil Maid attacks, malware injection, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

While critical infrastructure can be a challenging target, it is often the focus of state-sponsored actors who have the necessary tools and capabilities. Additionally, targeting an adversary’s critical infrastructure is a big win. Even if there is no substantial damage, successfully infiltrating a nation’s critical infrastructure can cause significant distress among the population and undermine their confidence in the government’s ability to preserve national security. Again, because of this, it is likely that a culprit would have some ties to a government.

So, how is critical infrastructure vulnerable? Of course, it is not one-size-fits-all, but below are a few vulnerabilities that are generic to critical infrastructure.

Outdated Legacy Systems

Critical infrastructure often relies on outdated legacy systems, making it highly vulnerable to hardware based attacks. Why is this the case? Legacy systems are often synonymous with “cybersecurity risk.” Even without being a cybersecurity expert, it’s easy to understand that systems built years ago, designed to meet the security standards of their time, simply cannot defend against today’s advanced threats. Cybersecurity threats evolve constantly, and IT departments already struggle to keep up with the ever-changing landscape. As a result, legacy systems, especially those that cannot be updated, are vulnerable to exploitation by hardware based attacks. This gap in security makes them prime targets for attackers. Need I say more?

Technologically Integrated Environments

To modernize legacy systems and enhance productivity, organizations have adopted an integrated environment where IT, OT and IoT are interconnected. As a result, critical infrastructure is often dependent on cyber-physical systems, whereby the physical equipment and systems are digitally controlled. Yes, this does mean that a cyberattack can have direct physical consequences – just look at the Stuxnet attack.

With an environment that is becoming increasingly technologically integrated, an attackers’ job just got easier. Executing a hardware based attack necessitates a certain degree of physical proximity. And the integrated infrastructure allows the perpetrator to target the most accessible component as the point of infiltration and then move laterally throughout the entire network. It is even more worrying since some critical infrastructure, such as energy providers, deploy consumer-facing IoT devices that operate in less secure environments, making it easier to gain physical access.

Large Organization Challenges

Organizations that make up critical infrastructure are, typically, not small. Such entities perform critical operations and require extensive personnel and facilities to do so. Primarily, this means there are likely many assets within the enterprise. The more hardware assets an enterprise has, the more difficult it is to manage all of them. When it comes to hardware based attacks, asset management is imperative. If you cannot see an asset, then you cannot identify it as the source of malicious activity. Additionally, the more hardware assets an organization possesses, the greater the attack surface as there are more entry points for a bad actor.

Another risk associated with an organization’s size is the challenge of ensuring comprehensive physical layer visibility security. As hardware attacks require the perpetrator to gain physical access, physical security is the first layer of defense against such attacks. A hospital, for example, simply cannot have physical protection across the entire building. There will be areas where an attacker can quickly slip in and out without anyone noticing.

Finally, a large organization with many different departments might have a decentralized approach to cybersecurity. As a result, this can bring about inconsistencies in each department’s approach to cybersecurity. Insufficient security in one department puts the entire enterprise at risk due to its interconnectedness. Insufficient security in one department can expose the entire enterprise, highlighting the need for comprehensive hardware based security. You are only as secure as your weakest link…

Adopting Zero Trust Principles in Critical Infrastructure

The aforementioned risks are exacerbated by the trust typically vested in internal users and devices, which can be exploited by hardware based attacks. The assumption that those operating within the organization’s perimeters are trustworthy puts the enterprise in a vulnerable position to malicious activity originating from within. The automatic trust given to internal users provides them with extensive access to enterprise resources. This is especially worrying considering the integrated environment that is typical of critical infrastructure.

Adopting the Zero Trust model eliminates the component of trust as all users and devices need to be verified at every access request to enhance security. A Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is implemented through various measures, including micro-segmentation, whereby the network is split into more granular parts – each of which requires separate access approval. Micro-segmentation prevents lateral movement across the network, minimizing the extent of damage that an attacker can cause. Micro-segmentation is especially important to critical infrastructure due to its interconnected environment that makes lateral movement relatively effortless. Embracing Zero Trust Hardware Access (ZTHA) in critical infrastructure is essential).

Security Against Hardware Based Attacks

However, to effectively implement a Zero Trust Architecture, organizations must attain comprehensive asset visibility. This is particularly important concerning hardware based attacks. Hardware based security involves identifying the true identity of all devices within the network. This identification helps prevent rogue devices from breaching security protocols. Rogue devices, as mentioned, are covert by nature. Whether a device is hiding or spoofing a legitimate one, an enterprise needs to overcome this visibility challenge. Without the ability to see the device or its true characteristics, the Zero Trust Architecture may grant access under false pretenses.

A lack of visibility at the hardware level, Layer 1, means that organizations will struggle to enforce the Zero Trust model accurately. As a result, they will remain vulnerable to rogue device attacks. This highlights the importance of embracing Zero Trust principles in critical infrastructure and implementing Zero Trust Hardware Access, where physical layer visibility serves as the first line of defense.

hardware based attacks - physical layer — Hardware Based Attacks – OSI Model Layers

Endpoint and Network Security

Sepio’s platform offers a remedy for the shortfall in device visibility, particularly when addressing hardware based attacks. Sepio’s delivers physical layer visibility. Sepio makes all devices visible and reveals their true identity by validating the device’s Physical Layer information. Not just what it claims to be.

Sepio’s policy enforcement mechanism enables Hardware Access Control by enforcing strict or more granular rules based on the device’s characteristics. Importantly, Sepio instantly detects any devices that breach the pre-set policy and automatically initiates a mitigation process to block them, preventing malicious hackers from successfully carrying out hardware based attacks.

Sepio's Discovered Assets — Sepio’s Discovered Assets

Securing Critical Infrastructure with Sepio

Sepio‘s brings the solution to effective Zero Trust adoption by significantly reducing an enterprise’s blind spots. With greater visibility, the Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) can grant access decisions with complete information. Thus enhancing the enterprise’s protection within, and outside of, its traditional perimeters. The Hardware Access Control capabilities of the solution block Rogue Devices as soon as they detect them, stopping an attack at the first instance. Not even allowing such devices to make network access requests. Furthermore, Sepio supports data access policy development – which the Zero Trust Architecture relies on as a source of information – by enabling the creation of more valid policies based on complete asset visibility. So, while critical infrastructure protects the nation, Sepio is here to protect critical infrastructure. Embracing the principles of Zero Trust, coupled with Zero Trust Hardware Access, becomes paramount in fortifying critical infrastructure’s resilience against hardware based attacks.