As smart home technology becomes increasingly mainstream, the market has seen a surge in low-cost IoT devices flooding platforms like Amazon. Many of these products are backed by lesser-known manufacturers, often overseas, that prioritize rapid deployment and market share over security and long-term support. This trend has led to a growing number of insecure devices being integrated into home networks, exposing users to significant privacy and security risks.

What We’ll Cover:

1. How to get started in IoT security research and what skills or tools are most valuable
2. A walkthrough of prior IoT research that led to the discovery and responsible disclosure of new 0-day vulnerabilities
3. Practical testing techniques for identifying critical vulnerabilities in consumer IoT devices
4. Step-by-step approaches to analyzing firmware, hardware components, and companion mobile applications
5. How device-focused research can uncover hidden API vulnerabilities that typical web assessments often miss

Who Should Attend:

1. Security researchers and penetration testers interested in IoT or embedded device testing
2. Application and product security engineers expanding into hardware and firmware analysis
3. Red teamers and vulnerability researchers looking to broaden their technical scope
4. Security leaders seeking to understand emerging IoT risks in consumer and enterprise environments

Additional Resources:

1. YoSmart YoLink Hub Version 0382
2. Traeger Grill D2 Wi-Fi Controller, Version 2.02.04

Session Summary:

In this virtual session, Bishop Fox Senior Security Consultant Nick Cerne, walked through how to find zero-days in IoT and embedded devices, starting with the rapidly expanding and insecure IoT landscape and real-world incidents like Mirai, iBaby, and attacks on critical infrastructure to show the stakes. He explained the typical IoT ecosystem—mobile apps, cloud services, gateways, and end devices—and highlighted common protocols (UART, JTAG, SPI, MQTT, LoRaWAN) and why their complexity creates a broad attack surface. Nick then outlined a practical research workflow: build a modest hardware lab (multimeter, debug adapters, soldering tools, logic analyzer, Android device), map the attack surface, proxy and reverse mobile apps, identify and research chips, extract firmware via debug interfaces or flash, and reverse engineer it with tools like Ghidra to uncover API endpoints, topics, and secrets. He illustrated this with case studies, including YoSmart’s YoLink hub, where unencrypted communications, predictable device IDs, weak MD5-based URL schemes, and missing authorization checks allowed attackers to obtain MQTT credentials and remotely control smart locks and plugs, and prior Traeger grill research that exposed similar authorization flaws. Nick closed by emphasizing responsible disclosure, defensive tips like network segmentation and monitoring at home, and the idea that embedded hacking welcomes many skillsets—from web and mobile to RF and binary exploitation—and that breaking cheap devices is a normal and valuable part of learning.

Key Takeaways:

1. IoT is a massive, growing attack surface: Tens of billions of connected devices, many low-cost and insecure, are being deployed into homes and critical infrastructure, making IoT security a high-impact problem rather than a niche concern. 
2. IoT ecosystems are broad and multi-layered: Mobile apps, cloud APIs, IoT gateways, RF protocols (e.g., LoRaWAN), and end devices all interact—each link (HTTP/MQTT topics, BLE, Wi-Fi setup flows, debug interfaces) is a potential point of failure and must be mapped as part of the attack surface. 
3. Hardware debug interfaces are gold mines: Protocols like UART, JTAG, and SPI—often exposed as test pads or headers—can yield root shells, firmware dumps, and deep insights into device behavior when combined with basic tools (multimeter, debug adapter, logic analyzer, soldering iron). 
4. A modest lab is enough to start doing real research: You don’t need expensive gear: a cheap multimeter, $10 debug adapter, logic analyzer, basic soldering tools, and an unlocked Android phone can get you very far. Extras like Flipper Zero, digital microscopes, and heat guns are helpful but not mandatory. 
5. Firmware analysis ties everything together: Once you extract firmware (via UART/JTAG, SPI flash, or download endpoints), tools like strings and Ghidra can reveal MQTT topics, API endpoints, encryption/authorization logic, and hardcoded secrets—often leading directly to impactful vulnerabilities. 
6. Case study: YoSmart hub showed how small design mistakes snowball: Unencrypted cloud communication, predictable device IDs, MD5-based “secret” URLs derived from those IDs, and missing authorization checks allowed an attacker to obtain MQTT credentials and remotely control other users’ smart locks and plugs. 
7. Responsible disclosure is critical—and sometimes slow: Even without a bug bounty program, you can (and should) follow a formal disclosure process (emails, written letters, clear reports). You may not get an immediate response, but vendors can and do fix serious issues when properly informed. 
8. Everyone can find a niche in embedded hacking: Whether you like web/mobile, reverse engineering, binary exploitation, RF, or cryptography, IoT research has an angle for you. Start with cheap devices, expect to brick a few, and treat each failure as part of the learning curve.