For the first time ever in the history of technology, a human being has been infected with a virus intended for a computer. Of course this seems impossible, as computer viruses are completely information based entities, and humans are based in biology with completely incompatible information systems. At least this used to be true. When we began implanting chips beneath our skin, however, this rift was partially closed. Now Dr. Mark Gasson has a computer related disease thanks to a chip in his hand that cannot be removed.
The scientist from the University of Redding actually purposefully infected himself to demonstrate how such a system would work at some point in the future if chips became more prolific. Of course Dr. Gasson was always interested in technology as a child, and quickly adopted the philosophy of chipping so that he could gain access more exclusively to secure features around the laboratory and his personal home life. His phone, for example, would not work for anyone other than him as a system within it detects the presence of his specific chip, which some claim cannot be mimicked. Of course this isn’t necessarily true if his chip system contracts a bug.
Chip implants of today are far different from those we may have heard of in the past. A chip today works more like a miniature computer, processing data, recording information, and then interfacing with computers and even making changes to data stored on it. In this way, the chip can actually accidentally contract a line of code which self propogates and can be transmitted from one chip to another by the interfacing either with a chipped person to a computer or eventually one chipped person interfacing with another chipped person. In other words, when RFID chips are able to transfer information from one individual to another, there will be a very real possibility of information being unintentionally (or intentionally) passed from one to another with malicious or potentially harmful results.
What could someone do if they were to “hack” into your chip? At the moment, very little. Since chips are not widely used, there would be little reason to create a virus specifically for them aside from making a point. But in the future, chips will be used largely as a security measure. And if code can be changed on the chip itself, information could be gathered, making their effectiveness essentially useless as a security measure once they can be replicated by others. In fact, they would be more susceptible to hacking than a traditional key on a keyring as they are transmitted from one person to another and read from a distance.
And there’s the potential for exploitation once the computer brain barrier is effectively crossed. When people begin interfacing with internal computer implants that can effect their own brains, it seems the potential problems are limitless. Of course the human mind is an incredible thing, so there is much of an opportunity for the “wetware” to rebel or work around the chipping system on a mass scale, but there is still quite a bit of potential for problems among the majority who may fall victim to a new type of disease that will come from the fusion of minds and metal.
