dingostew.com

A British scientist has become the first human to be infected with a computer virus.
Dr Mark Gasson, a cybernetics expert at the University of Reading, has had a computer chip implanted in his hand.

The chip is programmed to open security doors to his lab - and ensure only he is able to switch on and use his mobile phone.

But Dr Gasson deliberately infected the chip with a computer virus, which was then automatically transmitted to the lab security system.

"Once the system is infected, anybody accessing the building with their passcard would be infected too," he told Sky News.

The virus on his chip is benign. But malicious computer code could give criminals access to a building.

Dr Gasson says his experiment also exposes the vulnerability of chips now routinely implanted in patients.

Heart pacemakers contain mini-computers that control the heartbeat, and communicate with doctors via a special reader held against the skin.

But if a virus was transmitted to the device which stopped it working properly, the consequences for the patient could be fatal.

"The devices will have to start to use security encryption," said Dr Gasson.

"Medical devices should have some kind of password protection as well. They're basic security precautions. It's surprising these devices don't have them already."

I was thinking this myself.
All devices like that are totally open. You may think that it'll only apply to people with chips in their bodies but theres rumours aobut governments trying to introduce these RFID chips into people on the grounds that they'll be like medical alert bracelets.
For example, Ambulance shows up, some bloke is unconscious, they scan his chip and it reads back "Allergic to penicillin". Now, one of these "viruses" could "flip the bit" and return "not-allergic to penicillin" or give them other false details like they're not diabetic or something.

But ye, if this gets the go ahead (which actually i think yesterday they said in the news it'll thrown out within the year) then everyone will have these chips, not just for medical reasons but stuff like opening their front door, or saving settings about their home heater system so they can change from room to room and keep the same temperature settings, and then someone will inevitably create a virus that fucks everything up with the affects ranging from a really cold room in your house, to eh....like dying when they stop your pacemaker!!

So ye, they need some sort of firewall/anti-virus protection, as well as a secondary method of authentication, otherwise people will chop off rich peoples hands in order to get access to their house!!