Intro to IoT Pentesting

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.