Page 173 - Cyber Defense eMagazine RSAC Special Edition 2025

What’s more, employees may hold onto old laptops and PCs, creating further visibility and security gaps
if these machines still carry sensitive corporate data.

If organizations do not have a secure way to erase sensitive hardware and firmware data and enable
safe decommissioning, they are missing out on quick and easy Environmental, Social, and Governance
(ESG) wins. They are also unable to redeploy devices securely, and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership
(TCO) of machines.

The pathway to device security

To address these challenges, organizations should first bring IT, security and procurement teams
together to ensure they bring security requirements into purchasing decisions that consider the entire
device lifecycle. Next, investigate solutions that flag when devices have been tampered with, and that
enable zero-touch onboarding, as well as stronger alternatives to BIOS passwords. Organizations then
need to prioritize devices and tools that allow hardware, firmware configurations, and security updates to
be managed proactively and remotely across the fleet.

Finally, organizations should look for devices that can securely and verifiably erase sensitive hardware
and firmware data even when the devices are powered down – solutions that already exist on the market.
This will streamline decommissioning and help organizations meet sustainability goals. Securing PCs,
laptops and printers is often overlooked or taken for granted. But since they are critical entry points into
corporate IT infrastructure, they must be judiciously procured, so that teams have the tools and device
capabilities to enable them to closely manage, monitor, and securely decommission their fleets.

About the Author

Boris Balacheff is Chief Technologist for System Security Research and
Innovation at HP. He leads HP's Security Lab's research strategy, from
analyzing and reporting on trends in the threat landscape, to designing security
from the hardware and firmware up. Boris shapes security technology strategy
at HP in partnership with HP business units and customers. He and his team
drive academic, industry and government collaborations to improve on the
state of the art and progress standards, from supply chain security to migration
to post-quantum cryptography. Named on over 40 US patents, Boris is an
inventor of modern approaches to hardware design for firmware and software
resilience, and an early contributor to Trusted Computing standards and technologies. Boris is a Director
of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) where he chairs the Certification Program Committee.

Boris can be reached online at LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/boris-balacheff-26381 and at our
company website https://www.hp.com.

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