Job Description
Hardware Cyber Security Researcher
Location: Reading hybrid (UK)
Please note: this role requires someone to work physically in our Hardware Lab in Reading (Thames Valley Park) for 50% of the time
Oracle’s Global Product Security (GPS) is looking for a highly skilled security professional to join the Ethical Hacking Team (EHT).
The EHT operates on the whole Oracle portfolio of products to improve security across all engineering groups within the company. As an EHT member, you will be involved in all aspects of product security assessment, from identification to fix. We value individual contribution, and you will be given the freedom to learn and grow. We are passionate about sharing knowledge and we deeply believe that the stronger you grow, the stronger the team becomes.
Responsibilities:
You will be involved in mostly hardware security assessments, using your knowledge to identify and report security issues, as well as guidance to fix them. You will dive deep into hardware implementations, reverse engineer firmware, file formats and protocols in order to reveal subtle security vulnerabilities and implement proof-of-concept exploit attack chains, simulating the steps of real-life attackers.
A successful candidate must have genuine excitement for and interest in security, as well as the desire to share knowledge and help others learn from the high technical and ethical standards you set. Your work will benefit thousands of Oracle engineers worldwide and shape the future of product security within one of the largest software companies in the world.
Requirements:
- Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical/Electronic/Computer Engineering, Computer Science or related field.
- 3+ years of experience in vulnerability research / bug hunting; public history of vulnerability discovery (CVEs, blog posts etc.) is highly desirable.
- Practical experience with hardware attacks (e.g. side channels, fault injection); past experience with hardware attack tools (e.g. ChipWhisperer) is highly desirable.
- Ability to think like an adversary, identify potentially vulnerable spots in designs and implementations, assess risk and communicate the relevant details to other team members and managers.
- Knowledge of analogue / digital electronics and ability to understand complex schematic diagrams.
- Ability to communicate on, monitor, and debug common embedded communications interfaces such as JTAG, SPI, I2C, RS232, USB etc.
- Ability to build enabling prototypes (e.g. Arduino/Raspberry Pi controlled breadboards).
- Ability to use common hardware lab tools (e.g. soldering iron, logic analyser, oscilloscope, function generator, power supply etc.).
- Knowledge of x86 and/or ARM server platform architecture and ability to read and understand x86 and/or ARM assembly.
- Experience with disassemblers/decompilers (e.g. IDA Pro/HexRays, Ghidra, Radare, objdump, gdb etc.) and firmware reversing tools (e.g. binwalk).
- Familiarity with memory corruption bugs (stack/heap/integer overflows, format strings).
- Ability to run firmware on QEMU and knowledge of Linux OS internals.
- Fluency in either C or C++ and proficiency with one among Python, Go, Java or Bash. Ability to self-teach any language, given appropriate resources to study and practice.
- Excellent organizational, verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to work physically in our Hardware Lab in Reading - Thames Valley Park, for 50% of the time