A $500 Open Source Tool Lets Anyone Hack Computer Chips With Lasers

Researchers developed the RayV Lite to lower the barrier for laser-based hardware attacks, demonstrating laser fault injection (LFI) techniques that can flip bits in processors to bypass firmware protections and extract secrets; examples include disabling automotive chip security checks and forcing crypto wallets to reveal keys by skipping PIN verification. The report highlights the increasing accessibility of specialized hardware attack tools and the resulting risk to embedded devices and cryptographic assets.