Hardware Hackers Urge Vendor Engagement for Security Success

Experts Detail Upsides of Bug Bounties and Getting Devices Into Researchers' Hands Mathew J. Schwartz (euroinfosec) • November 21, 2025

If hardware once had a reputation as an immutable root of trust, more than a decade of worries about compromised supply chains, side channel attacks and insecure enclaves have sanded that standing down to a stump.

See Also: Thwarting Cyberthreats in the Power Sector

Vulnerabilities are a fact of life - but how they end up in devices involves numerous factors. "I see hardware security vulnerabilities as a business problem with a business choice," said Alex Guzman, CISO for Cisco Network Devices, speaking this week at the Hardware.io conference in Amsterdam.

"When you're sourcing components and platforms that maybe are already out of date, or you choose a manufacturing model and you're trying to go fast to market, you're making decisions and trade-offs - fast to market ...