Embedded Device & IoT Vulnerability Testing
Vulnerability testing of IoT and embedded devices will ensure your devices are safe from unauthorised access. If devices are lost, stolen or on-sold, your organisation risks the extraction or exploitation of company configurations. Proactive testing is the primary strategy to ensure compliance and help prevent incidents before they happen. Find out how we can help your organisation:
Securing the Connected World
As IoT devices proliferate across Australian homes, hospitals, factories, and critical infrastructure, the attack surface facing organisations has expanded dramatically. Gridware’s IoT Penetration Testing practice brings together hardware engineers, embedded systems specialists, and offensive security consultants, delivering end-to-end security assessments that go far beyond traditional testing.
From individual consumer devices to complex industrial control systems deployed at ASX-listed companies and government entities, Gridware has the expertise, tooling, and regulatory knowledge to identify vulnerabilities before adversaries do.
Published CVEs in Major IoT Systems
Engineers
Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Expertise
ASX & GOVT
Clients Across Regulated
Sectors
Why IoT Security Is Different
Traditional penetration testing methodologies were built for IT infrastructure, operating systems, web applications, and network protocols. IoT devices present an entirely different challenge: proprietary firmware, custom silicon, bespoke wireless protocols, resource-constrained operating environments, and hardware attack surfaces that require physical access and specialist equipment to assess.
A misconfigured UART debug port left open in production. Unsigned firmware accepted over-the-air. A Zigbee network key transmitted in plaintext. Hardcoded credentials surviving from the factory.
These are just some of the vulnerabilities that standard tooling will never find and that Gridware’s team is built to discover.
Attack Surfaces We Assess
Hardware & Physical
- UART / JTAG / SWD debug interface extraction
- SPI & I²C bus sniffing, EEPROM & flash read-out
- eMMC, NAND flash & SD card storage extraction
- PCB reverse-engineering & component analysis
- Fault injection & voltage glitching
- Anti-tamper mechanism bypass
- Chip-off attacks on embedded memory
Wireless Protocols
- Wi-Fi credential capture, deauth & rogue AP attacks
- Bluetooth / BLE pairing bypass & MITM
- Zigbee & Z-Wave network key extraction
- LoRa / LoRaWAN replay & packet injection
- NFC / RFID relay and cloning
- Sub-GHz proprietary protocol analysis
- Cellular (LTE-M / NB-IoT / 4G) interface review
Firmware & Software
- Static binary analysis & reverse engineering
- Hardcoded credential & cryptographic key extraction
- Cryptographic implementation review
- Bootloader security & secure boot bypass
- OTA update mechanism integrity testing
- RTOS & embedded OS vulnerability analysis
- Privilege escalation on embedded Linux
Cloud, API & Integrations
- REST / GraphQL / MQTT API security testing
- Cloud backend authentication & authorization
- Device certificate & PKI validation
- Companion mobile application (iOS / Android)
- Third-party integration security boundaries
- Data-at-rest and data-in-transit encryption review
- Device provisioning & onboarding security
Side-Channel & Physical Snooping
- REST / GraphQL / MQTT API security testing
- Cloud backend authentication & authorization
- Device certificate & PKI validation
- Companion mobile application (iOS / Android)
- Third-party integration security boundaries
- Data-at-rest and data-in-transit encryption review
- Device provisioning & onboarding security
Industrial & OT / SCADA
- Modbus, BACnet, DNP3 & OPC-UA protocol analysis
- CAN bus sniffing & injection
- RS-232 / RS-485 serial interface attacks
- PLC & HMI firmware review
- ICS network segmentation validation
- Safety instrumented system boundary testing
Key Benefits
Gridware’s IoT cybersecurity services will help you take preventive action to avoid the cost of an embedded device or IoT data breach. Testing is effective at mitigating the financial loss and reputational damage resulting from embedded device vulnerabilities. It can be an industry-leading move in helping organisations take their systems from below-average to strategically in tune with the latest threats and challenges pertaining to embedded and IoT devices.
Embedded device vulnerability testing is a proactive way of shaping mature cybersecurity strategies by testing wireless technologies and systems before something can go wrong.
Mitigation of key cyber risks associated with embedded and IoT devices
Avoid costly fines and irreparable reputational damage associated with device breaches.
Compliance with local legislation
Build the right cybersecurity and awareness culture within an organisation
Give customers the confidence they need
Experience Across Regulated Industries
Gridware’s IoT practice has delivered engagements for clients operating in healthcare, critical infrastructure, energy & utilities, and financial services, including ASX-listed companies and government entities across Sydney, Melbourne, and nationally. Our team understands the specific regulatory frameworks that apply: IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82, FDA Cybersecurity Guidance, ETSI EN 303 645, and the Australian Privacy Act, and most importantly how they apply to our diverse clientele.
Techniques Deployed in the Field
The following is a selection of real attack techniques Gridware’s team has executed across client engagements. These are documented findings delivered to clients who trusted us to find what others couldn’t:
Extracted live session credentials by sniffing unencrypted SPI flash traffic between a microcontroller and external EEPROM on a medical monitoring device, a vulnerability that was invisible to network-based scanners.
Achieved Remote Code Execution on a client’s OT device by identifying a stack-based buffer overflow through reverse engineering of a proprietary network protocol running on a non-standard port.
Bypassed secure boot on an industrial gateway through a clock glitching attack, achieving unsigned firmware execution and full root access without any prior knowledge of the bootloader implementation.
Recovered hardcoded AWS IoT Core credentials from a consumer smart home device through static firmware binary analysis, enabling complete enumeration of the client’s cloud backend and all enrolled devices.
Decoded and replayed proprietary Sub-GHz RF transmissions from a physical access control system using a software-defined radio, achieving unauthorized entry without possession of a valid access card.
Exploited a weak PRNG implementation in a BLE-enabled lock to predict session tokens across consecutive authentication attempts, bypassing the device entirely without physical interaction or brute force.
Identified a logic flaw in a trusted application running inside an ARM TrustZone TEE, extracting protected cryptographic key material that the client had considered architecturally isolated from compromise.
Located and accessed an undocumented UART debug header on a production network appliance PCB, obtaining a fully privileged root shell on a device the client believed had no exposed management interface.
Why This Matters to Your Organisation
Every finding listed above was missed by the client’s existing security tooling before Gridware was engaged. Automated scanners do not read oscilloscope traces, reverse engineer applications or break software implemented security features like PRNG. Vulnerability databases do not reverse engineer proprietary RF protocols. The difference between a checkbox compliance exercise and a genuine security assurance engagement is the depth of expertise standing behind it. That is what Gridware brings to every IoT engagement to deliver the best results for our clients.
Our Testing Methodology
Gridware follows a structured, intelligence-led methodology adapted from industry standards including OWASP IoT, PTES, and IEC 62443, tailored to the specific characteristics of each device and deployment environment.
Pre-Engagement Scoping & Rules of Engagement
Comprehensive scoping call to define device inventory, attack surface boundaries, testing constraints, regulatory obligations, and third-party authorisation requirements. Written Rules of Engagement documented before testing commences.
Passive Reconnaissance & Architecture Review
Open-source intelligence gathering on device model, manufacturer, known CVEs, FCC filings, and public firmware releases. Review of architecture diagrams, protocol documentation, and cloud integration topology.
Firmware Acquisition & Static Analysis
Firmware extraction via debug interfaces (UART/JTAG), web interfaces, OTA capture, or chip-off. Static binary analysis using Binwalk, Ghidra, and our own custom tooling; identifying hardcoded credentials, vulnerable libraries, cryptographic weaknesses, and remote attack vectors.
Dynamic Testing & Active Exploitation
This phase comprises a detailed technical analysis of the target system, using automated tools like vulnerability scanners and network mappers. The scanning results help to understand how the target application responds under different conditions and pinpoint potential weak points.
Side-Channel & Physical Attack Assessment
Live device testing covering hardware interfaces, wireless protocols, network services, API endpoints, and cloud integrations. Chained exploitation to demonstrate real-world attack paths and business impact.
Reporting, Debrief & Remediation Support
Where in scope: power analysis, electromagnetic analysis, and fault injection using specialist lab equipment. Physical teardown, PCB analysis, and debug interface extraction performed in our Sydney hardware lab.
Reporting
Executive summary and detailed technical findings report with severity scoring, proof-of-concept evidence, and prioritised remediation guidance. Technical debrief with penetration testing team and a retest window to validate fixes.
The Team Behind the Assessment
What sets Gridware’s IoT practice apart is the depth of engineering expertise behind it. Our consultants are not solely penetration testers who have picked up shiny hardware tools, they are practitioners with formal electrical and electronics engineering backgrounds who understand how devices are designed, manufactured, and where security controls most commonly fail.
Gridware prides itself on having a team that can deliver beyond running everyday tools and scans. Instead, our practitioners carry an innate understanding of how the fundamental building blocks of embedded and IoT systems actually work.
Ahmed Khanji
Chief Executive Officer
Hassan Zaatar
Chief Customer Officer
Lachlan Wright
Head of DFIR
Jawad Khan
Chief Information Security Officer
IoT Penetration Testing FAQs
What does IoT penetration testing include?
IoT penetration testing assesses the security of a connected device and the wider ecosystem it relies on. This can include the physical device, firmware, mobile application, web portal, cloud APIs, network communication, authentication flows and update mechanisms. The goal is to understand how the product behaves under real attacker conditions, rather than only reviewing the device in isolation.
Why is IoT penetration testing different from standard penetration testing?
IoT testing crosses several technical domains at once. A single weakness may sit in the firmware, the hardware interface, the mobile app, the cloud API or the way the device communicates over the network.
This makes IoT testing more complex than a standard web application or network assessment. A strong assessment looks at how each layer interacts, because the real risk often appears between systems rather than inside one component alone.
How long will an IoT penetration test take to complete?
We have dedicated team members who specialise in embedded and IoT devices. We can usually turn around initial results within a week.
What do we receive after an IoT penetration test?
You receive a clear report that explains what was tested, what was found, how each issue could be exploited and what the business impact may be.
Gridware’s report also includes practical remediation guidance for engineering and security teams. Where useful, findings can be grouped by device layer, such as firmware, communications, mobile application, cloud services or physical interfaces, so the right teams can act quickly.
Customer Stories
Gridware has acted for hundreds of companies and helped them recover from potentially disastrous situations. Read about how our services have helped others.
Our team is ready to answer to your queries.
