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UID:pretalx-bsides-ot-uk-2025-RSN7HX@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=GMT:20260410T152000
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DESCRIPTION:What if the superconducting magnet of an MRI machine breached c
 ontainment?\n\nWhat if the checks and controls of an MRI machine are conne
 cted to the network?\n\nIn this short talk I explore the cyber-physical ri
 sks of cryogenic systems\, with the particular example of MRI superconduct
 ing magnets.\n\nMRI magnets rely on cryogenic cooling - liquid helium near
  absolute zero - to maintain superconducting magnetic fields. Superconduct
 ing relies on the coil being so cold that it has no electrical resistance\
 , so massive currents (hundreds of amps) can flow through it and sustain m
 agnetic fields almost hundreds of thousands of times that of the Earth. If
  that coolant warms up at any point the superconducting property is lost\,
  the conductor becomes resistive and heats up\, and a truly vicious cycle 
 of heating and increasing resistance develops so the nitrogen or helium bo
 ils - called a 'quench'. The boiled gas is hundreds of times bigger than t
 he liquid so creates intense pressure: so much that your ears will probabl
 y pop but worse\, you probably can't open the door: and it forces the oxyg
 en out of the room so you suffocate\, while also getting instant frostbite
 . The collapse of the magnetic field can stress the magnet's structure and
  permanently damage the coils: which cost tens of thousands of pounds to r
 eplace while you lose weeks worth of imaging throughput. Even a controlled
  quench costs thousands and risks damage. These things are prevented by fa
 ilsafe systems: constant monitoring\, automatic venting\, secure supply ch
 ains\, early warnings\, regular maintenance and checks.\n\nBut what if the
 y're not? What if someone or something interferes with the complex and sup
 posedly resilient supply chain and safety monitoring systems? Then small a
 nomalies can cascade and we have cryogenic bombs waiting to go off.\n\nCry
 ogenics is now a cyber‑physical risk surface: pervasive networking and t
 he Internet of Things now means system failures - through accident or atta
 ck - can cause failures in ordering systems\, delivery delays\, failing fa
 il-safes so that Operational Technology is increasingly exposed to cyber r
 isks in cryogenic monitoring and control.\n\nThe mitigations are obvious -
  and routine - but we all know that awareness and caution are not at all r
 outine in cyber security\, and restating the obvious is part of the toolbo
 x of any cyber security professional so I will discuss mitigations includi
 ng diversified helium and spares strategy\, raised refill thresholds\, net
 work segmentation\, encrypted telemetry with certificate lifecycle managem
 ent\, MFA for vendors\, runtime physics‑based validation of sensor data\
 , “alarm‑the‑silence” watchdogs\, manual overrides\, and blended q
 uench‑plus‑cyber table-top drills\, as useful tools that can help prev
 ent incidents and avoid us breaking out into a sweat about liquid helium.
DTSTAMP:20260501T110658Z
LOCATION:Track 1
SUMMARY:When absolute zero gets too hot to handle - Cyber Risks for Cryogen
 ic Failure in MRI - Chris Bore
URL:https://pretalx.com/bsides-ot-uk-2025/talk/RSN7HX/
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