Electrolysis is a process that uses electrical energy to drive a chemical reaction. In practice, an electric current is applied to a material such as an electrolyte so ions move and reactions occur at electrodes. The best-known example is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, but the term covers a wider class of controlled electrochemical changes.
In cyber security, electrolysis matters because many connected systems depend on precise electrical control: batteries, sensors, industrial plants, lab hardware, and medical or manufacturing equipment. If an attacker compromises firmware, control software, or a programmable controller, they may be able to change voltage, current, timing, or temperature and push a device into unsafe electrochemical behavior. Defenders look for this by protecting control paths, validating sensor data, enforcing interlocks, and monitoring abnormal process values that could indicate tampering or fault conditions.