Platform security – securing the hardware and firmware of PCs, laptops and printers – is often overlooked, weakening cybersecurity posture for years to come, according to HP.
The report, based on a global study of 800+ IT and security decision-makers (ITSDMs) and 6000+ work-from-anywhere (WFA) employees, shows that platform security is a growing concern with 81% of ITSDMs agreeing that hardware and firmware security must become a priority to ensure attackers cannot exploit vulnerable devices.
However, 68% report that investment in hardware and firmware security is often overlooked in the total cost of ownership (TCO) for devices. This is leading to costly security headaches, management overheads and inefficiencies further down the line.
Five stages of the device lifecycle
Supplier selection – In addition, 34% say a PC, laptop or printer supplier has failed a cybersecurity audit in the last five years, with 18% saying the failure was so serious that they terminated their contract. 60% of ITSDMs say the lack of IT and security involvement in device procurement puts the organization at risk.
Onboarding and configuration – 53% of ITSDMs say BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) passwords are shared, used too broadly, or are not strong enough. Moreover, 53% admit they rarely change BIOS passwords over the lifetime of a device.
Ongoing management – 60% of ITSDMs do not make firmware updates as soon as they’re available for laptops or printers. A further 57% of ITSDMs say they get fear of making updates in relation to firmware. Yet 80% believe the rise of AI means attackers will develop exploits faster, making it vital to update quickly.
Monitoring and remediation – Every year, lost and stolen devices cost organizations an estimated $8.6B1. One in five WFA employees have lost a PC or had one stolen, taking an average 25 hours before notifying IT.
Second Life and decommissioning – 47% of ITSDMs say data security concerns are a major obstacle when it comes to reusing, reselling, or recycling PCs or laptops, while 39% say it’s a major obstacle for printers.
“Buying PCs, laptops or printers is a security decision with long-term impact on an organization’s endpoint infrastructure. The prioritization, or lack thereof, of hardware and firmware security requirements during procurement can have ramifications across the entire lifetime of a fleet of devices – from increased risk exposure, to driving up costs or negative user experience – if security and manageability requirements are set too low compared to the available state of the art,” warns Boris Balacheff, Chief Technologist for Security Research and Innovation at HP Inc.
“It’s essential that end-user device infrastructures become resilient to cyber risks. This starts with prioritizing the security of hardware and firmware and improving the maturity of how they are managed across the entire lifecycle of devices across the fleet,” added Balacheff.
Oversights in the supplier selection process
52% of ITSDMs say procurement teams rarely collaborate with IT and security to verify suppliers’ hardware and firmware security claims. 45% of ITSDMs admit they have to trust suppliers are telling the truth as they don’t have the means to validate hardware and firmware security claims in RFPs. 48% of ITSDMs even say that procurement teams are like “lambs to the slaughter” as they’ll believe anything vendors say.
IT professionals are also concerned about the limitations of their ability to onboard and configure devices down to the hardware and firmware level seamlessly.
78% of ITSDMs want zero-touch onboarding via the cloud to include hardware and firmware security configuration to improve security. 57% of ITSDMs feel frustrated at not being able to onboard and configure devices via the cloud.
48% of WFA workers who had a device delivered to their home complained that the onboarding and configuration process was disruptive.
“You will always need to choose technology providers you can trust. But when it comes to the security of devices that serve as entry points into your IT infrastructure, this should not be blind trust,” comments Michael Heywood, Business Information Security Officer, Supply Chain Cybersecurity at HP Inc.
Challenges around the ongoing management, monitoring and remediation of devices
71% of ITSDMs say the rise in work-from-anywhere models has made managing platform security more difficult, impacting worker productivity and creating risky behaviors.
One in four employees would rather put up with a poor-performing laptop than ask IT to fix or replace it because they can’t afford the downtime.
49% of employees have sent their laptop to be repaired, and say this took over 2.5 days to fix or replace the device, forcing many to use their personal laptop for work, or to borrow one from family or friends – blurring the lines between personal and professional use.
12% had an unauthorized third-party provider repair a work device, potentially compromising platform security and clouding IT’s view of device integrity.
Monitoring and remediating hardware and firmware threats to prevent threat actors accessing sensitive data and critical systems is vital. However, 79% of ITSDMs say their understanding of hardware and firmware security lags behind their knowledge of software security. Moreover, they lack mature tools that would give them the visibility and control they would want to manage hardware and firmware security across their fleets.
63% of ITSDMs say they face multiple blind spots around device hardware and firmware vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. 57% cannot analyze the impact of past security events on hardware and firmware to assess devices at risk.
60% say that detection and mitigation of hardware or firmware attacks is impossible, viewing post-breach remediation as the only path.
“Post-breach remediation is a losing strategy when it comes to hardware and firmware attacks,” warns Alex Holland, Principal Threat Researcher in the HP Security Lab.
Second life and decommissioning
Platform security concerns are also impeding organizations’ ability to reuse, recycle or resell end of life devices.
59% of ITSDMs say it’s too hard to give devices a second life and so they often destroy devices over data security concerns. 69% say they are sitting on a significant number of devices that could be repurposed or donated if they could sanitize them. 60% of ITSDMs admit their failure to recycle and reuse perfectly usable laptops is leading to an e-waste epidemic.
Complicating matters further, many employees sit on old work devices. This not only prevents devices from being repurposed, but it also creates data security risks around orphaned devices that still may carry corporate data.
70% of WFA employees have at least 1 old work PC/laptop at home or in their office workspace. 12% of WFA workers have left a job without returning their device right away – and almost half of these say they never did.
“IT teams are hoarding end-of-life devices because they lack the assurance that all sensitive company or personal data has been fully wiped – which in itself can pose data security risks and negatively impact ESG goals. Finding a reputable IT asset disposition vendor that uses the latest industry-standard erasure or media-destruction processes and provides a data sanitization certificate so you can meet compliance requirements, is key,” comments Grant Hoffman, SVP Operations and Portfolio, HP Solutions.
69% of organizations say their approach to managing device hardware and firmware security only addresses a small part of their lifecycle. This leaves devices exposed, and teams unable to monitor and control platform security from supplier selection to decommissioning.