In this post, we will be evaluating ZeroThreat.ai. Also, we will take a practical look at AI-Powered pentesting for modern apps. 

After years in the IT and cybersecurity space, I’ve developed a healthy skepticism toward anything labeled “AI-powered pentesting.” Most tools promise intelligence but still behave like scanners, which are loud, shallow, and detached from how real attackers think. 

I’ve spent years supporting engineering teams shipping modern web apps, APIs, and SPAs at a pace that traditional security tooling simply hasn’t kept up with. Like most AppSec teams, we relied on a mix of: 

• Traditional DAST tools 

• Periodic manual penetration tests 

• A growing pile of vulnerability tickets no one fully trusted 

My frustration wasn’t theoretical. It came from real-time experience: 

• Annual pentests that aged out within weeks 

• Automated scanners flagging hundreds of issues with no exploitability context 

• Business logic flaws surfacing only after incidents 

• Production environments treated as “hands-off,” even though attackers don’t respect that boundary 

When I came across ZeroThreat.ai, what caught my attention wasn’t the AI claim, it was the emphasis on attack paths, proof-based findings, and automated pentesting. That combination is rare, and frankly, hard to execute well. 

This blog is not a feature list. It’s detailed how ZeroThreat.ai works, how it stands apart from other tools on the market, and how it meaningfully changed how I think about automated pentesting. 

What is ZeroThreat.ai? 

At its core, ZeroThreat.ai is an AI-powered penetration testing platform that simulates real-world attacks to identify critical vulnerabilities from web apps and APIs. Rather than merely flagging static code issues or pattern-based findings, its Agentic AI pentesting performs dynamic testing from an attacker’s perspective, interacting with your running web applications and APIs just like a real adversary. 

Two parameters that platform follows: 

• Zero Configuration: You should be able to start testing in minutes rather than days. This reduces the barrier to entry for engineering teams who otherwise delay security due to complex setups. 
• Zero Trust Architecture: Following the “never trust, always verify” paradigm, ZeroThreat.ai treats your application as hostile ground. It assumes nothing is secure by default and continuously verifies defenses as if an attacker were probing every interaction. 

The Real Problem with Traditional Pentesting 

Before talking about the platform, I should talk about and let you know the current state of pentesting. 

1) Why Point-in-Time Testing is Fundamentally Broken 

Most organizations still rely on pentesting models designed for a very different era: 

• Annual or biannual engagements 
• Fixed scopes defined weeks in advance 
• Static reports delivered long after testing 

The problem isn’t effort, it’s relevance. By the time a report lands, the application has already changed. There could be some new additional endpoints. And you will find some changes in permissions. Entire workflows may have been refactored. 

If we consider it from a risk standpoint, this creates a dangerous illusion of coverage. 

2) Automated Scanners: High Coverage, Low Confidence 

Another point I should talk about its automated capabilities. 

Automated tools typically excel at breadth: 

• Evaluating endpoints 
• Matching known vulnerability patterns 
• Flagging OWASP Top 10 categories 

What they consistently fail at is context. And they don’t understand: 

• Which user should access which object 
• How roles interact across workflows 
• What constitutes an actual abuse path 

As a result, teams drown in findings while still missing the issues that lead to real incidents. 

3) Business Logic Remains the Blind Spot 

Most real-world breaches today involve: 

• Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) 
• IDORs hidden behind valid auth 
• Workflow manipulation 
• Privilege drift across roles 

These don’t show up as neat signatures. They emerge from context, not payloads. 

This is the gap ZeroThreat.ai claims to fill, and where I focused my evaluation. 

First Impressions of ZeroThreat.ai: Onboarding and Initial Setup 

While going through the signup process, its onboarding immediately signals that it’s not built around naive scanning. 

Instead of pushing you to “just enter a URL,” the platform guides you to: 

• Define the application/API 

• Choose the scanning type: auth or unauth 

• Choose data storage region

This is subtle but important. 

From a usability perspective, the UI is practical. It doesn’t overwhelm you with cluttered information or meaningless charts. The focus is clearly on which URL is being tested, and which region you would prefer to scan and store that data. 

Why “AI-Powered Pentesting” Finally Makes Sense with ZeroThreat.ai 

For a long time, I was skeptical of the phrase AI-powered pentesting. In most tools, AI meant faster crawling or smarter payload mutation, but the output was still the same: a long list of loosely validated issues that required human interpretation to separate signal from noise. 

What changed with ZeroThreat.ai is that AI isn’t being used to find more vulnerabilities. It’s being used to decide which behaviors actually matter. 

Instead of treating every anomaly as a finding, Its AI-powered penetration testing evaluates application behavior the way an attacker would: 

• Does this endpoint trust user input more than it should? 

• Can identity or role context be manipulated? 

• Can this workflow be abused without breaking the app? 

• Does this behavior expose data or actions that weren’t intended? 

This is a subtle but critical difference. The AI is not asking “Is this theoretically vulnerable?” 

It’s asking “Can this be abused in practice?” 

In a nutshell, AI-powered pentesting approach is applied for web app pentesting, API pentesting, and Agentic AI pentesting. 

What Testing Feels Like When the Tool Understands Context 

One of the most noticeable differences when running scans is that the tool behaves as if it understands state or app behavior. 

Traditional tools tend to forget everything between requests. They test endpoints in isolation, without remembering how a user arrived there or what permissions should apply. 

In fact, the platform doesn’t do that. 

It observes: 

• How sessions are established 

• How identity is preserved across requests 

• How authorization decisions change based on role, object, or workflow step 

This becomes especially powerful in applications with: 

• Multi-step business processes 

• Role-based access control 

• API-driven frontends 

• Conditional authorization logic 

Instead of blindly fuzzing parameters, ZeroThreat.ai actively checks whether access decisions make sense. If a request succeeds, it doesn’t stop at “200 OK”, it evaluates whether that success should have been possible at all. 

That’s exactly how a real attacker thinks. 

How ZeroThreat.ai Works: A Practitioner’s View 

1) From Vulnerabilities to Attack Paths 

The most important conceptual shift the platform introduces is this: 

Security risk is not about individual vulnerabilities, it’s about what can be chained together to cause harm. 

Its approaches testing by: 

1. Mapping application behavior (routes, APIs, workflows) 
2. Observing how authentication and authorization workflows behave 
3. Exploring how an attacker could move laterally or vertically across roles 
4. Validating whether those paths are actually exploitable 

This is a meaningful departure from signature-based scanning. The system adapts its testing logic based on application responses, not static rules. 

Why This Matters 

In real attacks: 

• Exploits are rarely single-step 

• Authorization flaws emerge across sequences 

• Business logic is abused, not “exploited” 

2) Approach for Business Logic Testing 

Well, this app security testing platform does not rely on predefined signatures or static rules to detect business logic issues. Instead, it operates through behavioral analysis and attack-path reasoning. 

At a high level, it claims to: 

• Observe how applications enforce authorization across roles 

• Identify object relationships and ownership models 

• Track how state changes across multi-step workflows 

• Test whether those controls hold when assumptions are violated 

This enables to uncover flaws such as: 

• Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) 

• IDORs hidden behind authenticated flows 

• Privilege escalation across role boundaries 

• Workflow bypasses in transactional systems 

• Unauthorized data access via sequence manipulation 

These are not theoretical risks. They are proven abuse paths, validated through controlled exploitation. 

3) Sensitive Data Is a Logic Problem, Not Just a Data Problem

Whenever there’s a scan in a dashboard, its pentesting systematically evaluates whether: 

• Users can access records they do not own 

• APIs return excess data beyond role scope 

• Identifiers can be manipulated to retrieve sensitive objects 

• Authorization checks are applied consistently across similar endpoints 

Importantly, this automated penetration testing tool validates these scenarios without relying on destructive techniques. This makes them safe to test even in production environments. 

4) Authenticated and Authorization-Aware Testing That Actually Works 

Authorization bugs are among the most dangerous issues in modern applications, and also the most commonly missed. 

The platform tests: 

• Multiple user roles 

• Permission boundaries 

• Horizontal and vertical privilege escalation 

Instead of guessing, it validates access decisions in context. It doesn’t just say “authorization issue detected”, it shows who accessed what, how, and why it shouldn’t be possible. 

This is exactly the kind of insight that builds trust across engineering teams. 

5) Fix Validation Without the Usual Pain 

In traditional workflows, validating a fix is often more painful than finding the issue. 

You fix one vulnerability, re-run a full scan, wait, and then sift through unrelated noise just to confirm whether the issue is actually resolved.

ZeroThreat.ai’s ability to re-test individual findings changes that entirely. Developers can get near-instant confirmation, which: 

• Speeds up remediation 

• Reduces frustration 

• Encourages better security 

This small workflow improvement has a surprisingly large impact on adoption. 

6) AI-Powered Remediation: Practical, Not Theoretical 

The remediation guidance provided felt grounded in reality.

Instead of generic advice, it explains: 

• Why the issue exists 

• What security assumption failed 

• How to address it without breaking functionality 

It doesn’t replace human expertise, but it reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and helps teams move faster with confidence. 

That’s where AI belongs in AppSec: amplifying clarity, not pretending to replace judgment. 

7) Where AI Actually Adds Value (and Where It Doesn’t) 

The platform doesn’t completely replace human efforts, and that’s a good thing. 

AI is used where it excels: 

• Exploit vulnerabilities 

• Pattern recognition across behavior 

• Prioritization based on exploitability 

• Context-aware reasoning 

• Remediation reports with code-fixing suggestions 

• Vulnerability by request type & prioritization

It doesn’t pretend to: 

• Understand business intent better than humans 

• Make risk decisions without oversight 

• Replace manual pentesting entirely 

This quality is what makes the platform trustworthy. It augments expertise instead of undermining it. 

ZeroThreat.ai Features: Core Pentesting Capabilities 

The platform claims to have a clear idea: modern application security should be driven by how attackers actually operate, not by static checklists or signature-based scans. 

Its core pentesting capabilities are built specifically to test live applications in real-world conditions, focusing on exploitability, authorization, and exposed data rather than raw vulnerability counts. 

This section breaks down what “core pentesting” means in practice, and why it feels fundamentally different from traditional DAST tools. 

Comprehensive Vulnerability Detection 

The platform claims to detect over 40,000 vulnerabilities, including major standards like the OWASP Top 10 and CWE/SANS Top 25, as well as issues like sensitive data exposure from web apps, APIs, SPAs, microservices, and heavy JavaScript-based apps. 

Agentic AI Pentesting 

As per the website, Agentic AI pentesting goes beyond scripted automation by behaving like a goal-driven attacker that can plan, adapt, and iterate based on application responses. Instead of executing fixed tests, the AI dynamically decides what to try next, chaining actions across authentication states, roles, and workflows to validate real attack paths.  

The AI adapts to application behavior mid-scan while allowing prompts to refine testing in real time. Execution is staging-only, bounded, and governance-friendly. Customers can bring their own AI models (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok), retaining full control over cost, policy alignment, and token usage. 

Open Attack Template Support (Burp & Nuclei) 

As per the information stated on the website, the platform supports open attack templates inspired by industry-standard tooling such as Burp Suite and Nuclei. This allows teams to extend testing using familiar, community-driven attack patterns while benefiting from its validation, context-awareness, and noise reduction. 

Attack-Path–Driven Automated Pentesting 

Unlike traditional DAST tools that test endpoints in isolation, the platform performs pentesting by modeling attack paths. It doesn’t just look for individual weaknesses, it explores how multiple conditions can be chained together to achieve unintended access or actions. 

This means the platform actively reasons about: 

• How a user enters the system 

• What privileges they start with 

• How those privileges can be stretched, bypassed, or abused 

• Where trust boundaries silently break 

Actually, this feels much closer to how a human pentester thinks, probing assumptions, testing transitions, and following opportunities rather than running static payload lists. 

Continuous Pentesting Aligned with Modern DevOps 

Its core pentesting is not designed to be a one-time event. It’s meant to run continuously as applications evolve. The platform can easily be integrated with your existing SDLC or CI/CD pipelines to prevent vulnerabilities earlier. 

Compliance Reports 

The compliance reports mentioned by Cyber Security Times are structured to align with widely adopted security and regulatory standards, including OWASP Top 10, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS. 

Rather than generating separate reports per framework, its mechanism correlates the same validated findings across multiple compliance lenses. This reduces duplication and avoids conflicting narratives between security and compliance teams. 

Preferred Data Scan and Storage Location 

Have control over where security testing is executed and where data is stored, addressing a critical requirement for regulated, globally distributed teams. Here, I could choose preferred regions for scan execution and data residency to align with internal policies and regulatory frameworks, such as data residency and sovereignty laws. 

Executive & Technical Summary 

While getting a report, I got a clear, unified view of application risk that resonates with both executives and technical teams.

(Executive Summary) 

From a leadership perspective, it translates complex security testing into provable risk, business impact, and compliance-ready evidence. 

(Technical Summary)

For engineers and AppSec teams, it provides validated findings rooted in real attack paths, not assumptions or noise. 

This dual clarity bridges the gap between strategy and execution, enabling informed decisions at the top while giving teams precise, actionable insight to reduce real-world exposure efficiently.

The Competitive Landscape: ZeroThreat.ai vs. Burp Suite vs Nessus vs Snyk vs Invicti vs Acunetix 

No application security tool operates in isolation. Every buying decision today is contextual, teams aren’t asking “Is this tool good?” but rather “Is this the right tool for the problems we actually have?” 

To understand where ZeroThreat.ai fits, it’s important to compare it against three platforms that frequently come up in modern AppSec conversations: Burp Suite, Nessus, Snyk, Invicti, and Acunetix. 

Each of these tools is solving a different security problem, even when they appear to overlap on the surface. 

Different Tools, Different Security Philosophies 

One of the biggest mistakes teams make is comparing security tools as if they’re interchangeable. In practice, they are built on very different mental models. 

Burp Suite 

Burp Suite is a widely adopted toolkit for manual penetration testing. It provides deep visibility into HTTP traffic, supports custom testing workflows, and offers powerful extensibility through plugins and scripting. 

Where it fits best: 

• Manual, expert-led pentesting engagements 

• Research-driven vulnerability discovery 

• Advanced, custom attack simulation 

Where ZeroThreat.ai excels differently: 

ZeroThreat.ai brings attacker-style reasoning into automated pentesting. Instead of relying on manual operators or heavily tuned configurations: 

• Agentic AI that adapt to application behavior in real time 

• Attack paths are dynamically chained and validated 

• Exploitability is confirmed with evidence 

• Individual issues can be re-tested instantly 

For teams that want the depth of attacker thinking without the operational overhead of manual tooling, ZeroThreat.ai enables continuous validation at scale. 

Nessus 

Nessus is a leading infrastructure vulnerability scanner, commonly used for identifying misconfigurations, outdated services, and CVEs across networks and hosts. 

Where it fits best: 

• Infrastructure vulnerability management 

• Compliance scanning 

• Network-level exposure assessment 

Where ZeroThreat.ai excels differently: 

ZeroThreat.ai focuses specifically on Agentic AI pentesting, including web applications and APIs, where most modern breaches originate. Rather than scanning infrastructure services: 

• It validates 40,000+ real-world application attack paths 

• Tests authenticated user flows and role-based access 

• Identifies business logic flaws and workflow abuse 

• Surfaces exposed data with contextual evidence 

For organizations already running infrastructure scanners, ZeroThreat.ai adds deep application-layer security coverage that network scanning alone cannot provide. 

Snyk 

Snyk is developer-focused and strong in Software Composition Analysis (SCA), container security, and code scanning (SAST). It integrates directly into CI/CD pipelines to catch vulnerabilities early in development. 

Where it fits best: 

• Open-source dependency risk management 

• Shift-left security 

• Code-level vulnerability detection 

Where ZeroThreat.ai excels differently: 

The platform operates at runtime, testing what is actually deployed and reachable. 

This means it: 

• Validates real-world exploitability 

• Identifies exposed data, tokens, and session abuse 

• Tests authentication, authorization, and workflow logic 

• Simulates attacker behavior across live environments 

Shift-left tools reduce potential risk early. ZeroThreat.ai validates whether risk is actually exploitable in production, where business impact occurs. 

Invicti 

Invicti provides automated DAST capabilities and proof-based scanning, focusing on high accuracy and enterprise scalability. 

Where it fits best: 

• Enterprise web application scanning 

• Automated vulnerability validation 

• Broad vulnerability category coverage 

Where ZeroThreat.ai excels differently: 

It’s designed specifically for modern, API-driven, SPA-heavy applications: 

• AI-powered agentic testing adapts dynamically 

• Playwright-based navigation handles complex UIs and multi-step flows 

• Authorization-aware testing validates cross-role access control 

• Individual issue re-scans eliminate full-scan overhead 

Instead of rule-based crawling and static attack checks, ZeroThreat.ai continuously reasons through application behavior like a human attacker, at machine scale. 

Acunetix 

Acunetix is a long-standing web vulnerability scanner designed to identify common web application issues such as SQL injection, XSS, and configuration weaknesses. 

Where it fits best: 

• Automated web vulnerability discovery 

• Small to mid-sized teams needing DAST coverage 

• Broad vulnerability category detection 

Where ZeroThreat.ai excels differently: 

Prioritizes real exploitability and exposed data impact over vulnerability counts. 

It focuses on: 

• Attack paths to validate real compromise scenarios 

• Detecting business logic abuse 

• Testing authenticated workflows across multiple user roles 

• Running safely in production without disruption 

For teams focused on measurable risk reduction, not just scan output, ZeroThreat.ai delivers evidence-driven results aligned to attacker outcomes. 

Where ZeroThreat.ai Clearly Differentiates 

What separates ZeroThreat.ai from all above competitors is not breadth, it’s intent. 

ZeroThreat.ai is designed around a single question: If an attacker interacts with my live application, what can they actually exploit? 

This focus leads to several meaningful differentiators: 

• Automated pentesting instead of pattern-based scanning 

• Authorization-aware testing across real user roles 

• Business logic and workflow abuse detection 

• Near-zero setup with minimal tuning required 

For teams that already use Snyk (for dependencies) or static tools (for code quality), ZeroThreat.ai often fits naturally as the runtime attacker lens those tools lack. 

Ease of Adoption vs Depth of Control 

Another major difference across these platforms is operational overhead. 

• Enterprise suites often require dedicated security teams to configure, tune, and manage them. 

• Developer-first tools are easier to adopt but may lack runtime context. 

• ZeroThreat.ai emphasizes zero configuration and fast time-to-value, especially for DevOps and SaaS teams that can’t afford months of setup. 

This makes ZeroThreat.a particularly appealing to: 

• High-velocity engineering teams 

• Startups and scale-ups 

• Security teams focused on continuous testing rather than periodic audits 

Customer Reviews & Industry Perception 

What customers commonly highlight: 

• Across review platforms and practitioner feedback, several themes consistently emerge: 

• Minimal false positives, reducing alert fatigue 

• Fast, frictionless onboarding 

• Developer-ready reports with clear remediation guidance 

• Strong API and application-layer vulnerability detection 

• Responsive and knowledgeable customer support 

Customers often emphasize that the platform surfaces validated, actionable findings, enabling security and engineering teams to focus on remediation instead of triage noise. 

G2 Reviews: Overall Summary 

Customer feedback reflects strong satisfaction across engineering, AppSec, and enterprise teams. Reviews consistently highlight accuracy, ease of integration, and measurable efficiency gains in modern CI/CD environments. 

Key Highlights from Reviews 

• 4.5⭐ High ratings 

• Low false positives and trusted scan accuracy 

• Seamless CI/CD integration with automated build scanning 

• Fast onboarding and minimal setup effort 

• Developer-friendly, actionable reports 

• Strong API and business logic vulnerability detection 

• Noticeable time savings in triage and remediation 

• Responsive and helpful customer support 

Common Improvement Suggestions 

• More native CI/CD and third-party integrations 

• UI enhancements for filtering and navigating historical results 

• Expanded integration ecosystem 

Overall Sentiment 

The overall perception is highly positive, particularly among SaaS companies and DevSecOps-driven teams. Customers view the platform as accurate, efficient, and well-aligned with modern application and API security workflows. 

Gartner Peer Insights: Overall Brief 

Cyber Security News acknowledges that the ccustomer reviews reflect a consistently positive experience, with ratings typically between 4.0 and 5.0 across key evaluation areas. Users describe the platform as reliable, fast, and easy to deploy, particularly for web application and API security in cloud environments. Overall sentiment indicates strong operational performance and solid value for security teams. 

Key Highlights from Reviews 

• 4.0⭐ High overall ratings 

• Easy deployment with minimal setup effort 

• Strong API and web application security coverage 

• Fast and stable performance in production environments 

• Good threat visibility and risk prioritization 

• Reliable day-to-day operation once implemented 

• Responsive service and support 

Common Improvement Suggestions 

• Advanced feature learning curve 

• Greater alert tuning and reporting flexibility 

• Expanded customization options 

• Occasional update timing concerns 

Overall Sentiment 

Customers view the platform as a dependable and practical security solution, particularly suited for cloud-based API and web application environments where ease of deployment, stability, and actionable risk visibility are key priorities. 

Final Verdict: Why ZeroThreat.ai Changes How Pentesting Should Work 

In my experience, ZeroThreat.ai stands out not because it claims to do more, but because it does the right things exceptionally well. It shifts pentesting away from theoretical findings and toward validated, real-world attack paths that actually matter to security teams. 

What I value most is the confidence it brings, confidence that production systems can be tested safely, that findings are actionable, and that security decisions are backed by proof, not assumptions. 

For teams navigating fast-moving development cycles and increasing compliance pressure, this platform feels less like another security tool and more like a practical extension of how modern application security should work. 

INTERESTING POSTS

In this post, I will show you how to recover lost or deleted data on Windows 11.

Many users with eligible systems have already installed Windows 11, since its public release on October 5, 2021. If you’re one of the users and have mistakenly deleted or lost data from Windows 11 system, there is no need to concern as you can easily recover the lost or deleted data.

In this post, we’ve covered some DIY methods to recover lost data from Windows 11 system. But before that, let’s see the reasons for data loss.

What Causes Data Loss?

You may lose files, folders, and other data from your system due to various reasons, such as:

• Accidental Deletion
• Drive Formatting
• Software Corruption
• File System Corruption
• Bad Sectors on Hard Drive
• Malware Attack
• System Crash
• Damaged Hard Drive

How to Perform Data Recovery on Windows 11?

Here, we’ve covered the best DIY methods that will help you recover deleted or lost files in different data loss scenarios. These methods include:

• Recover Data from Recycle Bin
• Use Windows Backup Utilities
  • File History
  • Backup & Restore (Windows 7)
  • Previous Version
• Run ATTRIB Command using Command Prompt
• Use Microsoft’s File Recovery Software
• Use Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition

Method 1: Recover Data from Recycle Bin

If you’ve deleted the files from your Windows system using only the ‘Delete’ key, you can check the Recycle Bin folder for deleted files. To restore deleted data from Recycle Bin, follow the given steps:

1. Go to your Desktop and open Recycle Bin.
2. Locate and select the files you want to restore.
3. Right-click the files and click Restore.
4. All the selected files will be restored to their original location.

Method 2: Use Windows Backup Utilities

A. File History

Windows built-in File History feature creates and keeps a copy of your system data. If you’ve kept it turned on since setting up Windows 11, you can easily restore the data deleted using Shift+ Del keys, drive formatting, or corruption. To recover data using File History, follow the given steps:

1. Go to Start and type Control Panel in the Search bar to open it.
2. Click System and Security on the next prompt.
3. Now, you can either click File History or Restore your files with File History.
4. Find the backup with the date and time.
5. Open the backup folder, select the files or folders, and click ‘Restore’ or ‘Restore to’.
6. Finally, choose the desired location (a different drive partition or an external storage drive is recommended) to save the data.

B. Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

It is another Windows built-in utility that, if enabled, keeps a backup of your data. You can recover permanently deleted files easily with the following steps:

1. Open Control Panel and go to System and Security.
2. Select either Backup and Restore (Windows 7) or Restore files from the backup.
3. On the next prompt, click either Restore my files or Restore all users’ files.
4. Select the files you want to restore.
5. Next, choose either Browse for files or Browse for folder and click Next.
6. Finally, choose the location where you want to store the recoverable files and click Restore.

C. Previous Version

The previous version is the copy of system files and folders that Windows automatically saves as a restore point. To recover files using the Previous Version, follow the given steps:

1. Go to File Explorer and navigate to This PC.
2. Then, right-click the drive from which you lost the files and click Properties.
3. Next, navigate to the Previous Versions tab.
4. You’ll see the list of previous versions of all folders and files. Choose the files or folders you want to revert to their older state.
5. Drag the file or folder to restore to another location (external drive or another drive partition in the system) and click OK.
6. The required version of files or folders will be restored to the selected location.

Method 3: Run ATTRIB Command using Command Prompt

Sometimes, your hard drive may get infected with virus or malware, due to which your data stored on the drive may become hidden. You can run the ATTRIB command in the Command Prompt to perform data recovery. To do so,

1. Type CMD in the Search bar and click Run as administrator in the right panel.
2. Click ‘Yes’ to allow the app to run.
3. In the Command Prompt window, type Chkdsk C:/f and hit Enter. (Replace C: with your hard drive letter.)
4. Wait until the process is done.
5. Once done, type attrib -h -r -s /s /d X:\*.* (replace letter X: with your hard drive letter) and hit Enter.

Here,

–r represents read-only attribute: Files are only readable

–s allocates ‘System’ attribute to the chosen files

–h assigns the ‘Hidden’ attribute to the chosen files

‘/S’ implies to ‘Search’ attribute to the specified path

‘/D’ contains process folders

X: represents the selected hard drive

Once the process is completed, a new folder on your selected hard drive will be created with all the recovered data. The files will probably be in CHK format. Change the file format to make them accessible and save them at the preferred location.

Method 4: Use Microsoft’s File Recovery Software

If you can’t restore your files from backup, you can use Microsoft’s Windows File Recovery tool. It is a command-line tool that can recover files in case of accidental deletion, formatting, and corruption. The software is available with three modes of operations, including Default, Segment, and Signature.

Default mode only supports the recovery of recently deleted files from NTFS hard drives. You need to use Segment mode to recover data lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, and corruption from NTFS hard drives. However, the Signature Mode allows data recovery from FAT, exFAT, and ReFS hard drives.

There are a few limitations of using this software:

• As it’s a command-line tool, you need to run several commands to recover different file types from NTFS, FAT, ReFS, and other hard drives, making it a bit complicated for non-technical users.
• This tool is only available for Windows 10 (version 2004) and above versions. Unfortunately, you can’t recover deleted data using this tool from previous Windows versions.
• The recovery results may be incomplete or corrupted.  

Method 5: Use Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition

For hassle-free data recovery in all data loss scenarios, such as deletion, drive formatting, corruption, malware attack, etc., you can use a powerful data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition.

It is a free data recovery software with powerful scanning and file recovery features. It restores all kinds of data, including documents, emails, PDF files, images, videos and audio files, and more, absolutely free of cost. You can even retrieve data from BitLocker-encrypted drives. You can recover lost data in just a few simple steps.

1. Install and run Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition on your Windows 11 system.
2. Select ‘Everything’ or choose the type of data you want to retrieve and click ‘Next’ on the initial interface.
3. Next, choose the location or drive from where you’ve lost the data on the Recover from screen and click Scan. The scanning process will start.
4. Once the scanning is done, you’ll see the results on the screen. Select files from available results and click ‘Recover’.
5. Now your files will be ready to recover. Browse the location to store recoverable files and Start Saving the files.  

Note: You can recover up to 1 GB of data for free by using Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition.

Preventive Measures for Avoiding Data Loss

You may lose data at any moment. Certainly, the above-discussed methods may help you retrieve lost or deleted data. However, it’s always said “Precaution is better than cure”. Thus, sharing some preventive measures for avoiding data loss in future.

• Back up your data regularly and keep at least three copies of your backup on Cloud or external storage media drives.
• Be more attentive while removing unnecessary data from hard drives.
• Always keep the latest Antivirus Program installed on your system to prevent malware or virus attacks.
• Don’t perform any hit-or-trial method to clean up your hard drives.
• Keep reliable data recovery software handy to prevent permanent data loss.

Conclusion

Data loss is a serious problem that may occur due to multiple reasons. But, whether you’ve deleted the data accidentally or it got lost due to hard drive corruption or formatting, you can get it back. Try out the free DIY methods given in this blog to reset windows 11 PC without losing data.

If you’ve just deleted your files using the ‘Del’ key, Recycle Bin is the first place to check and retrieve your files. However, if the files are deleted permanently (using Shift+Del key or emptying Recycle Bin) or lost due to other reasons, you can use Backup features in Windows or data recovery software, such as Windows File Recovery and Stellar Data Recovery Free edition to recover the data.

However, Windows File Recovery is a bit complicated tool for a normal user. Hence, we’d suggest you go with Stellar Data Recovery. It’s a DIY software that can recover data in all common data loss scenarios.

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In this post, I will talk about hardware-rooted trust and why security must start at the PCB level.

We tend to think of cybersecurity as something invisible—firewalls running quietly in the background, antivirus scans ticking away, encryption protecting our data as it travels across the internet. It all feels like software. But beneath every application, operating system, and security tool is something far more tangible: hardware.

And if that hardware isn’t trustworthy, nothing built on top of it truly is.

In today’s hyperconnected world—where cloud data centers power global businesses and tiny edge devices run factories, cars, and hospitals—security can’t just live in code. It has to start lower. Much lower. It has to start at the printed circuit board (PCB), the physical foundation of every electronic device.

What Hardware-Rooted Trust Really Means

At its core, hardware-rooted trust is about one simple idea: start security at power-on.

Instead of assuming trust, devices are designed to verify themselves from the very first instruction they execute for hardware design. This is done using a “root of trust”—a small, hardened set of hardware functions that are inherently trusted and cannot be easily altered.

When a device boots up, this root of trust checks the firmware. If the firmware has been tampered with, the system doesn’t proceed as normal. It stops, isolates, or shifts into recovery mode. In other words, it refuses to run unverified code.

Major chip manufacturers like Intel and AMD have embedded hardware-based protections directly into their processors. Features like secure boot and trusted execution environments help ensure that what runs on a system hasn’t been secretly modified.

Standards bodies such as the Trusted Computing Group have also advanced technologies like Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs), which securely generate and store cryptographic keys in hardware.

But to truly understand hardware-rooted trust, we need to look beyond the processor. We need to look at the board that holds everything together.

Why the PCB Is the Real Foundation

The printed circuit board is the nervous system of any device. It connects the processor, memory, storage, power management, communication modules, and peripherals. It defines how signals move and how components interact.

If the PCB is compromised—through tampering, poor design, or malicious modifications—every connected component is at risk.

Think of it like building a house. You can install the strongest doors and smartest alarm system, but if the foundation is cracked, the entire structure is vulnerable.

1. The Supply Chain Reality

Modern electronics don’t come from a single firmware. Components are sourced globally. Boards are assembled in one region, chips fabricated in another, firmware written somewhere else entirely.

Each handoff in that chain introduces risk.

Counterfeit parts can slip in. Components can be swapped. Firmware can be altered before deployment. And because hardware isn’t as easily inspected as software, these compromises can be difficult to detect.

By embedding security directly into the PCB design—such as cryptographic authentication of components and secure provisioning during manufacturing—organizations can verify that only authorized parts are accepted and that nothing unexpected has been introduced along the way.

Security, in this case, becomes part of the manufacturing DNA.

2. Protecting Firmware at the Board Level

Firmware lives in a gray area between hardware and software. It controls how devices start up and interact with their components. If compromised, it can provide attackers with persistence that survives reboots and even operating system reinstalls.

Technologies like secure boot help address this. For example, processors built on architectures from ARM Holdings often include TrustZone, which creates isolated execution environments to protect sensitive operations.

But these features only work as intended if the PCB supports them properly.

That means protecting key storage areas, securing boot ROMs, and locking down debug interfaces. A single exposed debug port can undo an otherwise strong design. PCB layout decisions—trace routing, access points, and connector placement—directly affect how difficult it is for an attacker to interfere with the system.

3. When Attackers Have Physical Access

Not all threats come over the network. In industrial sites, vehicles, IoT deployments, and defense systems, attackers may have physical access to devices.

At that point, security becomes very tangible.

PCB-level protections can include tamper detection circuits that trigger alerts if a casing is opened. Sensitive communication lines can be encrypted. Critical traces can be shielded to prevent signal probing. Some designs even erase cryptographic keys if tampering is detected.

These measures don’t make attacks impossible—but they dramatically raise the bar.

Secure Elements and TPMs: Anchors of Identity

Dedicated secure elements and TPM 2.0 modules act like vaults embedded directly on the board. They generate and store cryptographic keys in isolation from the main processor, resisting side-channel attacks and physical tampering.

When properly integrated into a PCB, these components enable:

• Strong device identity
• Secure firmware updates
• Remote attestation
• Encrypted storage

In a zero-trust world—where no device is automatically trusted just because it’s inside the network—hardware-backed identity becomes essential. Before granting access, systems can verify not just who a device claims to be, but whether it’s in a known, uncompromised state.

Designing Security from the Start

One of the most important truths about hardware-rooted trust is this: you can’t bolt it on later.

Retrofitting hardware security is expensive, complex, and often incomplete. It must be designed in from day one. That requires electrical engineers, firmware developers, and security teams to collaborate early—not after a product is already built.

It also requires a mindset shift. Security is no longer just about patching vulnerabilities. It’s about minimizing attack surfaces, provisioning strong cryptographic identities during manufacturing, securing update mechanisms, and planning for the entire device lifecycle—even decommissioning.

The Road Ahead: From Silicon to System

As emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing reshape the threat landscape, hardware-level defenses will become even more important. Future systems will need stronger isolation, more advanced cryptographic accelerators, and tighter validation across chiplets and distributed components.

The future of cybersecurity isn’t software versus hardware. It’s both—working together in a continuous chain of trust that starts at the transistor and extends all the way to the cloud.

Conclusion

It’s easy to focus on what we can see: dashboards, alerts, patches, and policies. But real security begins somewhere quieter and more fundamental—on the PCB itself.

When trust is anchored in hardware—through secure elements, verified boot processes, tamper detection, and carefully designed board architecture—everything built on top of it becomes more resilient.

In a world where attackers are digging deeper than ever before, security must do the same. And that journey begins not in the cloud, not in the code—but in the circuitry.

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