Dr Mark Gasson from the University of Reading has become first human in the world to become infected with a computer virus. In trials, Dr Gasson showed that the chip embedded in his body was able to pass on the computer virus to external control systems which were communicating with infected chip.
Dr Gasson admits that the test is a proof of principle but he thinks it has important implications for a future where medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants become more sophisticated, and risk being contaminated by other human implants.
Dr Gasson said "With the benefits of this type of technology come risks. We may improve ourselves in some way but much like the improvements with other technologies, mobile phones for example, they become vulnerable to risks, such as security problems and computer viruses."
Although Implantable Electronics has not become more prevalent yet but defiantly we have to think about avoiding hacking and malicious security breaches.
Dr Gasson works at the University of Reading's School of Systems Engineering and will present the results of his research at the International Symposium for Technology.
So the day is not far when you have to install antivirus and Security application on chip embedded in your body.
Source: BBC News
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