Laser hardware hacking lab for under $500: bring nation-state capabilities to your garage. 🗜️💥🔫😎⭐
Security researchers Larry Trowell and Sam Beaumont, with the help of some colleagues, explain how laser fault injection (LFI) and laser logic state imaging (LLSI) can be done affordably at home using open-source tools.
Both techniques are advanced hardware hacking methods once thought to be nation-state–only, with equipment costs around $150,000, but the researchers were able to reduce that to under $500.
So, laser attacks are no longer exotic, expensive, or theoretical. With open hardware, knowledge of physics, and patience, you can study and find hardware vulnerabilities from a home lab.
Just make sure you protect yourself! Remember, you only get two chances to protect your eyes. 🥸
More details:
Laser Beams & Light Streams: Building Affordable Light-Based Hardware Security Tooling
Slides [PDF]: https://www.netspi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/US24-Beaumont-Laser-Beams-Light-Streams.pdf
Presentation [Youtube]: https://lnkd.in/dFxsm97k
Democratizing hardware sec research is huge. That $150K to $500 drop is basically the Arduino moment for LFI. My friend who does pen testing was just complaning about how hardware vulns always get less attention because of cost barriers. This changes the economics for independent researchers alot. Dunno if I'd trust myself with a laser in my garage tho - that eye safety reminder is probably the most important part.