[Fast Company]: In season one, episode six of underrated robot-cop show Almost Human, criminals extort money from users of artificial hearts, by threatening to shoot down those hearts remotely. Far-fetched sci-fi plot? Yes.
But it’s also a scenario considered real enough that a group of scientists and neurosurgeons have authored a paper, published in World Neurosurgery, exploring its dangers. The name for such unauthorized control of implants? Brainjacking.
There are so far two known cases of hacking implants, both restricted to research endeavors. In 2011, researcher and diabetic Jay Radcliffe managed to crack the security on an insulin pump using a cheap computer chip and radio transmitter device.
In addition, he “outlined a potentially lethal method of attack,” says the paper. Later, a researcher named Barnaby Jack built on Radcliffe’s work by taking unauthorized control of an insulin pump and implantable defibrillator at a distance...<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...