In May 2025, Danish officials were alerted to a chilling discovery: unexplained electronic components embedded in imported circuit boards destined for the country’s energy infrastructure. The equipment, reportedly intended for solar power or broader energy supply applications, raised immediate concerns from Green Power Denmark, a national industry group. While the intentions behind the components remain unclear, the implications are stark.

Whether due to oversight, negligence, or malicious design, such incidents illuminate the urgent need to address a long-overlooked vulnerability: physical hardware security in the global supply chain.

This article discusses the coming threat to hardware supply chains, what major security frameworks say about it, and what you can do to protect yourself.