The concerns raised by hardware security are increasing more and more as attackers expand their scope outside the pure realm of software. While certainly representing an advanced threat, hardware attacks are often overlooked and protection against them remains difficult while their effectiveness remains high.

The presentation aims to provide an introduction to personal hardware security, outlining the practicality and impact of "evil maid" style attacks where physical access can be obtained. The author’s background in hardware security will be leveraged to illustrate selected experiences gathered from practical penetration testing and security audits, aiming to provide an understanding of involved technologies and countermeasures.