Man Catches Computer Virus!
Now wait just a gosh darn minute--how could computer code "infect" a living, breathing human? This viral melding of man and machine seemed peculiar when it made headlines in May 2010. Here's what happened: British scientist Mark Gasson and his colleagues at the University of Reading created a benign virus for an RFID (radio-frequency identification) chip embedded in Gasson's arm. (A cybernetics expert, Gasson uses the chip in lieu of a conventional swipe card.) The virus jumped wirelessly from Gasson's chip to the lab's computers, demonstrating how easily malware can spread via unsecured, implanted devices. The moral of the story: Implant designers need to take security seriously.
Image credit: The Telegraph
