Hardware hacking, or hardware reverse engineering, is the process of extracting information from hardware, such as firmware, instruction sets, and configuration information. We will discuss processes and tools to help people to start investigating hardware systems. The variety of tools and techniques is overwhelming and there is a lack of material and resources geared towards someone new to the field. During this talk, we will describe basic hardware hacking processes, techniques, and tools using common devices found at a local electronics store (routers, extenders, etc). The purpose of this presentation is to give an entry-level hardware enthusiast a beginner guide to understanding the uses and capabilities of these tools along with a basic understanding of how to access hardware serial connections