2038 is gonna be epoch!#

Pedro Umbelino, Trey Darley

• Why: Y2K38 is a slow-motion systemic event with a hard deadline (19 Jan 2038) and orders of magnitude more fielded systems than Y2K — and attackers don't have to wait for it.
• What: Controlled experiments documenting how IoT, ICS/OT, and embedded systems actually behave as they approach and cross the 2038 epoch threshold — failure modes where naively implemented state machines logically reverse time — with a classification framework, and the observation that a resourceful attacker can make "2038" happen any day via clock manipulation. (from abstract only)
• How: Exhaustive search and classification of failure modes across device classes in controlled lab environments, presented in plain language for both technical and policy audiences.
• Where applicable: Any system relying on 32-bit signed Unix time — especially long-lived embedded and OT equipment that must be pulled from the field, tested, and remediated over the next ~13 years; general, not org-specific.