Upcoming? The age of the cyborgs
The highlights (one, actually)
We should have been expecting it - some did. Late May this year a researcher in the U.K. claims to be the first person in the world infected by a computer virus.
The details (a few)
Early 2006 some Dutch researchers claimed that they had infected an RFID chip with a computer virus. Norman's security article, Your pet can be infected by a computer virus!, discussed their findings, which were quite controversial in the security community.
A news item from last week reveals that the researcher Mark Gasson from the University of Reading's School of Systems Engineering in U.K. implanted an RFID chip into his hand. The chip was then allegedly infected by a virus. Thus, Gasson is said to be the first person infected by a computer virus.
Gasson claimed that the infected RFID chip could transfer the malware to other devices, and stated that similar implanted chips could subsequently be infected. His test is supposed to be seen as a proof-of-concept, which might show some consequences regarding future development of sophisticated implants.
The (faint) analogies
Earlier this year we speculated in our article, New devices vulnerable for Internet based attacks, OR: The future is here, that advanced electronic devices used in for exampe cars in the future might me misused for tampering with the systems into which they were integrated. Could chip implants, similar to the one described above, in the future tamper with other electronic, life-critical electronic devices implanted in (other) human bodies?
Some types of malicious software for mobile phones using bluetooth to spread to other devices, have been around for some time. A person who has such an infected phone may be seen as a kind of walking malware propagator. Even more so would be a living person walking around with an infected implant he cannot leave behind.
The (scary) future
The news item that is the reason for this article should not in itself make us worry too much.
What it does however, is to point out that as more and more devices are becoming part of our lives - to use, to carry, to wear, to be part of - we also expose ourselves to potential vulnerabilities in these devices.
It seems safe to predict that during the next few years we will see an explosion in the use of IP addresses in all types of devices in order for them to receive instructions from the owners. Imagine contacting your cooker at home from your job computer, ordering it to start preparing the potatoes in 25 minutes - not that far-fetched!
The potential downside is that any such device will be part of the big Internet with potential for communication between itself and all other networked devices, and that vulnerabilities in any device have a potential for exploitation.
The age of the cyborgs, however - we are not quite there yet.
The references (some)
This story caused a lot of media attention. Below are just a few that may be used as a starting point for those interested in more details and analysis.
- BBC News: First human 'infected with computer virus' (includes video interview with Gasson)
- cnet news: Scientist infects himself with computer virus
- BBC News: Response to the critisism from Dr Mark Gasson
- Graham Cluley’s blog: Scaremongering scientist claims to have infected himself with computer virus
