Getting Started with Hardware Hacking in 2026

Every home is filling up with connected devices — cameras, doorbells, TVs, EV chargers. Each one is an attack surface. Understanding how these boxes talk to the world is one of the highest-leverage skills in modern security research.

1. A logic analyser — decode UART, SPI and I²C traffic between chips.
2. A multi-band radio tool like the T-Embed CC1101 Plus — capture and replay sub-GHz signals.
3. A Wi-Fi/BLE audit device like ESP32 Marauder — learn how wireless protocols really behave.

• Reading a datasheet without panicking
• Soldering 0.5 mm pitch pins
• Basic Python + pyserial
• Reading Wireshark captures

Break things you own. Document everything. Publish what you learn.

Welcome to the field.