ZIEN
ZIEN, a convergence security company specializing in Extended Internet of Things (XIoT), participated in the “IoT Security Vulnerability Response Technology Seminar” hosted by the Korea Electronics Association (KEA), where it conducted a live hacking demonstration and technical presentation to raise security awareness across the manufacturing industry.
The seminar was organized to help manufacturers incorporate robust security into smart appliances and industrial IoT devices from the early stages of product development. During the event, ZIEN’s demonstration vividly illustrated how real-world cyberattacks could exploit insecure embedded systems, drawing strong attention from field engineers and product teams in attendance.
Leading the session, ZIEN CEO and former white-hat hacker Youngmin Cho delivered a presentation titled “Assessing and Securing IoT Vulnerabilities,” which walked the audience through an end-to-end attack scenario. From vulnerability identification to privilege escalation and system control, the session highlighted how insufficient security design could leave devices highly vulnerable in real-world environments.
Following the talk, he performed a live attack using ZIEN’s proprietary automated firmware analysis platform, Z-IoT, which identifies vulnerabilities through static analysis and reverse engineering. The demo showcased common issues such as default credentials, open ports, exposed cryptographic keys, and exploitation of known CVEs. The demonstration culminated in remote code execution and root-level access on a live system, making the consequences of poor security design tangible to the audience.
Many attendees described the session as “eye-opening,” saying it reframed IoT security from a technical formality into a real business risk. “Security must be embedded at the architecture level—not patched in later,” said Cho. “Through partnerships like this one with KEA, we’re helping manufacturers move from reactive to proactive security.” Insights from the event have also been integrated into the ongoing enhancement of Z-IoT’s detection capabilities.
Source: Tech World