Panel E: Hacked in the Blink of an Eye : Physical Hardware Security in the Workplace

Abstract

In the corporate dominated environment of the business world today there are many cyber security threats present, ranging from Ransomware to Distributed Denial of Service Attacks targeting a company’s website servers, to the common Phishing Email whose goal is to obtain credentials of employees to steal data from the company. However, the security aspect that is overlooked by corporate employees is the security of their physical hardware in the workplace. Attacks concerning physical hardware include keylogger being installed on corporate assets, USB based malware attacks with the goal of spreading malware onto company servers or devices, and physical tampering of the ethernet or fiberoptic cable in order to transmit data that is transmitted from the company devices to the attacker’s location. There are several methods IT, Cyber Security, and everyday corporate employees can implement in their daily work routine in order to prevent breaches in their company’s physical hardware security, let alone their company’s network security or a possible data breach. These solutions range from simple USB port covers to educating professionals how to recognize breaches of physical security, to internal security systems installed on physical corporate devices to protect its physical hardware. In this paper, I describe the importance of having proper physical hardware security principles in a workplace or corporate environment and the threats posed by the possible attacks due to inadequate physical hardware security.