Overview

Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. In this course, you will delve into the world of IoT (Internet of Things) penetration testing. By the end, you'll be able to identify vulnerabilities in IoT devices and understand the security challenges associated with them. You'll explore various tools, methods, and strategies used in IoT pentesting, equipping yourself with practical knowledge to analyze and secure IoT systems. The course starts by introducing you to IoT basics, helping you understand what constitutes an IoT device and its common security issues. You'll also be introduced to the OWASP IoT Top 10, a list of critical vulnerabilities to watch out for. From there, you'll explore hardware components of IoT devices and learn how to uncover security flaws in these elements. Next, the course covers the essential tools you'll need for IoT pentesting, such as multimeters, Bus Pirates, JTAGulators, and Arduino kits. You'll learn how to use these tools to interact with IoT devices, from accessing firmware to performing hardware-level analysis. This section also dives deep into firmware analysis, emulation techniques, and how to modify firmware for security testing. The course is aimed at anyone interested in IoT security—whether you're a security professional, ethical hacker, or someone interested in hardware hacking. Basic understanding of networking and security is helpful but not required. The course is ideal for learners who want a hands-on approach to understanding and testing the security of IoT systems.

Syllabus

IoT Basics

In this module, we will provide an overview of IoT, including its purpose, types of devices, and common security challenges. We will also familiarize you with the essential hardware components found in IoT devices and their potential vulnerabilities.

Tools

In this module, we will dive into the various tools needed for IoT pentesting, ranging from hardware solutions like multimeters and JTAGulators to software tools for analyzing firmware and interacting with IoT devices. You'll gain hands-on knowledge to equip yourself with the essential tools for penetration testing.

Target Analysis

In this module, we will focus on analyzing IoT targets by using both traditional reconnaissance techniques and hardware enumeration methods. This will help you gather essential information about the IoT devices to target during a penetration test.

Exploiting Vulnerabilities

In this module, we will explore how to exploit vulnerabilities in IoT devices, from attacking their embedded operating systems and network services to exploiting weaknesses in custom web applications. You'll learn how to successfully penetrate IoT devices and gain unauthorized access.

Firmware Hacking

In this module, we will cover everything related to firmware analysis, from acquiring and extracting the firmware to performing dynamic analysis and modifying firmware to create backdoors. These techniques will help you uncover and exploit vulnerabilities in IoT devices.

Hardware Hacking

In this module, we will focus on hardware hacking techniques, specifically accessing IoT devices through UART. You will learn both manual and automated methods for identifying UART pinouts and utilizing these skills to interact with IoT firmware, uncovering valuable information for penetration testing.