High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of powerful clusters or supercomputers to run large simulations, model training, and other data-intensive workloads in parallel. In research, HPC lets teams process massive datasets, test hypotheses quickly, and accelerate tasks such as materials analysis or engineering design.
HPC matters in cyber security because these environments often store valuable intellectual property and connect to shared filesystems, schedulers, and remote access tools. Attackers may target weak authentication, exposed management interfaces, or misconfigured job queues to steal data, deploy cryptominers, or move laterally into adjacent systems. Defenders protect HPC by segmenting networks, enforcing strong identity controls, limiting user privileges, patching cluster software, and monitoring jobs and storage for unusual activity. In AI and research workflows, HPC also supports trusted computation, but only when data provenance and access controls are tightly managed.