The next hacking frontier: Your brain? (CNN)

**Drew Wilson** · July 13th, 2009, 01:58 PM

Hackers who commandeer your computer are bad enough. Now scientists worry that someday, they'll try to take over your brain.

In the past year, researchers have developed technology that makes it possible to use thoughts to operate a computer, maneuver a wheelchair or even use Twitter -- all without lifting a finger. But as neural devices become more complicated, and go wireless, some scientists say the risks of "brain hacking" should be taken seriously.

"Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and hold tremendous promise for the future," said computer security expert Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington.

"But if we don't start paying attention to security, we're worried that we might find ourselves in five or 10 years saying we've made a big mistake."

More...

:eek:

**1cooldude** · July 13th, 2009, 03:25 PM

that's already happened in my life..my wife has taken over my brain and I'm just a sex machine.:22:

**fleecy** · July 13th, 2009, 03:55 PM

lol too funny...

doubt that system would work on me, too many dead cells up there. there'd be a lot of "404 Page Not Found" :S

**Hath** · July 13th, 2009, 06:03 PM

My brain wouldn't respond to ping. :(

**Signa** · July 13th, 2009, 07:10 PM

Am I the only one that sees this notion as preposterous? In order to "hack" some one's brain, you will need to invent an input device that would work with the brain. All the aforementioned devices are output based. All input is done though eyes and ears. If it was possible to hack in the future by abusing a flaw in those input devices, it would be possible now (a la "Chuck") to throw stuff into your brain.

**mountain_rage** · July 13th, 2009, 07:49 PM

Its not so much brain hacking they are worried about, its neural prosthetics that they are worried will be hacked. Depending on the device this could be seriously dangerous for the patient using the device. Some of these devices do interact with the brain, such as the ones used to treat Parkinsons and others to treat blindness. So a hacker may in the future be able to hack into the prosthetic and change the functioning of the device. The worst case scenario in this is death, but generally it will probably just be a major inconvenience for the patient. Can you imagine someone loading 2 girls 1 cup into your prosthetic eyes?

**Signa** · July 13th, 2009, 08:29 PM

Yeah, I was coming back to correct that. I didn't read the whole article here, because Drew is great at posting a concise synopsis in most of his articles. I ended up reading the whole article when I visited Fark 20 mins later.

**1cooldude** · July 13th, 2009, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by Signa

Am I the only one that sees this notion as preposterous? In order to "hack" some one's brain, you will need to invent an input device that would work with the brain. All the aforementioned devices are output based. All input is done though eyes and ears. If it was possible to hack in the future by abusing a flaw in those input devices, it would be possible now (a la "Chuck") to throw stuff into your brain.

it's already here..It's called ..television.

**sudilav** · July 16th, 2009, 05:48 PM

television... wats television? :P.
The U.S. Military are looking into methods to use light to send a pulse through a nerve that just, well, makes the person unconscious. they know of several cases where certain light frequencies make people unconscious (forgive me, i am baked and do not want to use the stupid phrase "knocked out")... infact, it worked, i got knocked unconscious at a halloween party by the green strobe light... i have no history pre or post that incident with anything about epilepcy.

**fleecy** · July 17th, 2009, 03:11 AM

you sure it wasn't something you drank or smoked, etc. at the party?

**TFoS_Fan** · July 17th, 2009, 04:15 AM

Microbody eXPired:

Apologies. Your brain has caused a fatal error. For safety purposes, your brain will be restarted in 10 seconds. If this fails to occurs, you may have a hardware issue, such as a heart driver incompatibility, causing you to die.

We apologise again for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Goodbye.