Despite the fact that UART has been around FOREVER and is actually frequently used by vulnerability researchers in the hardware space, it has not been discussed as a dedicated topic on its own. This talk is intended to fill that gap. We will provide an overview of what UART is, the tools that exist to work with it and provide examples of why a security researcher should care. We will also explore why UART is a powerful friend for anyone who likes to repurpose hardware. We will also provide BKMs for companies building products that include UART to decrease the likelihood it will be used against them.
Toby is a senior information security technologist for a Fortune 50 company and has been working in infosec since 1999. He has worked on a large number of different technologies in the information security space. His primary job is new technology evaluation, penetration, and defense. Recently he has been focusing on cloud and virtualization security.
Mickey Shkatov is a security researcher at a Fortune 50 company covering a variety of topics in software, firmware and hardware. also holds a bachelors degree in engineering from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.