Systolen

Systolen is a neologism used in cybersecurity discussions and science fiction to describe the deliberate removal, theft, or substitution of a system's core components or security assets. The term is a blend of "system" and "stolen." It is not a formal technical term with a single standardized definition, but is used to illustrate a class of attacks or catastrophes in which the integrity of a system is compromised by reclaiming control of its essential parts.

In real-world security discourse, systolen is often used to discuss attacks that steal or harvest critical assets—such as encryption keys, firmware, secure elements, or trusted platform modules—thereby undermining trust and enabling further compromise. It can describe both hardware and software phenomena, including supply chain compromise, credential theft, firmware replacement, and the manipulation of trusted boot sequences.

In fiction and speculative writing, systolen is commonly depicted as a dramatic event where the core architecture of a city’s digital infrastructure is taken or replaced, causing cascading failures and social disruption. The concept helps explore themes of dependency on technology and resilience.

Detection and mitigation emphasize defense of trust anchors (HSMs, TPMs), secure boot and attestation, robust supply chain security, anomaly detection, rapid incident response, and redundancy. Effective governance and risk management reduce exposure to systolen-like events.

See also: supply chain attack, firmware attack, root of trust, trusted platform module, secure boot, integrity monitoring.