2026-04-10 –, Track 1
In a world of AI slop and next-gen nonsense, how do you know the thing you bought is actually secure? How do you firewall the unfirewall-able?
This is a love letter to bench testing and vulnerability research in an industry where transparency never trends. You'll see intended functionality abused for firmware-level backdoors, controller logic swapped with segregation-busting implants, and why "secure" in OT just means "nobody looked too closely (yet)".
In short: 2 basement gremlins, 1 crusty PLC, and unlimited Monster.
Adam is a security consultant at Pen Test Partners who specialises in industrial control systems and embedded hardware security. He's worked on everything safety-critical: from high-speed rail to aircraft, power stations, and gas distribution. His embedded work has seen him break driverless cars, slot machines, and drones and has led to the responsible disclosure of numerous vulnerabilities in industrial controllers. Adam enjoys hands-on and boots-on-the-ground testing, reverse engineering, and providing practical security advice for complex real-world systems.
Sam is a security consultant at Pen Test Partners who focuses on the weird stuff - hardware, IoT and Operational Technology. He's poked and prodded Industrial and embedded systems across various industries like automotive, IoT, IIoT, chemical, water, power, gas, manufacturing and his favourite of all - the alcohol industry. Sam enjoys tearing down operational systems on the bench almost as much as owning them in the field.