What is hardware security?

<p>Hardware security is vulnerability protection that comes in the form of a physical device rather than software installed on a computer system’s hardware. Hardware security can pertain to a device used to scan a system or monitor network traffic. Common examples include hardware firewalls and proxy servers.</p>
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<p>Less common examples include hardware security modules (<a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/hardware-security-module-HSM”>HSM</a>) that provision cryptographic keys for critical functions such as <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/encryption”>encryption</a>, decryption and <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/authentication”>authentication</a> for various systems. Hardware systems can provide stronger security than software and include an additional security layer for mission-critical systems.</p>
<p>The term <i>hardware security</i> also refers to the protection of physical systems from harm. For example, equipment destruction attacks focus on computing and networked noncomputing devices, such as those found in <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/machine-to-machine-M2M”>machine-to-machine</a> or internet of things (IoT) environments. These environments provide connectivity and communications to large numbers of hardware devices that must be protected through hardware- or software-based security.</p>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”Why hardware security matters”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>Why hardware security matters</h2>
<p>Hardware security is critical to modern data protection strategies and offers benefits across several industries and use cases. The most important reasons why hardware security matters are the following:</p>
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<li><b>Enhanced data security.</b> Hardware security devices can protect <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/sensitive-information”>sensitive information</a>,

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