From social engineering to hacking systems using software vulnerabilities, cyber-attacks are gaining a lot of momentum and with every passing year. While companies across the world usually deal with the security of their computer systems, there is another type of attack on the rise — hardware hacking.

Hardware hacks not only take over devices but also render accounts on a password-less server. From ATMs to voting machines to parking meters to medical devices, hardware hacking has always been on the frame, but people were ignoring it.

Why Open Source Is More Secure Than Closed Source

To deal with the emerging cyber threats, we rely on top-rated, expensive software or hardware. But have you ever thought to what extent these high-end products are secure? There are other tools in the market whose entire mechanism is made public, you (including an attacker) can see and judge the quality, and this is nothing, but Open Source.

In this entire scenario, you might feel that the open source approach is not effective. But, why would you trust a manufacturer that is not giving you any insights into how the product works?

Since inception, Open Source is considered to be more secure than its counterparts. However, it is not automatically secured, the thing that makes it better than closed source is the fact that one can verify it itself or even hire an open source expert to verify. And the scenario with closed source is more like a lead of faith.

How Open Source Hardware Can Help

The concept of open source hardware has a very close relationship with open source software. The concept holds true for electronic and other hardware devices. Whether it is about personal use or corporate use, most of the electronic consumers have no clue how the product works or what is inside. And this where open source hardware come into the scenario.

According to OSHWA,  a non-profit that advocates for open-source hardware, open source hardware typifies a design that is public, which means people can see, study and understand how the entire thing works, follow the directions to build a device, test it and even distribute or sell it. Talking about the benefits, the major benefit of open source hardware is not only about gaining the know-how of the product but also about the freedom of control and encourage commerce through the open exchange of designs.

Open source hardware will definitely help attackers gain information about the devices that could be potential targets, but we cannot deny that customers can downstream; they still have the power to make changes in the product or build the same product with a little complexity.

Distributed manufacturing, which is also distributed production can work as an add-on to open source hardware. How? Every time you make open source hardware publicly available, you increase the chances of getting that hardware adopted. This is when distributed manufacturing comes into the play because when someone is concerned, they could manufacture their own electronics based on the source that you made public and modify based on their QC standards.

Distributed manufacturing is already in the play and is gaining quite a momentum. People are already building their own devices and hardware from designs that are available. If hardware hacks become mainstream, then open source hardware and distributed manufacturing can be the go-to solution for every organisation that is in the need of hardware security.

Outlook

In many cases, many organisations or individuals go for tools based which have a large user base. However, open source allows customers and organisations to get a clear picture of the products, both internal and external.