According to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, hackers could use your brainwaves to steal your passwords. This is thanks to increasingly popular technology brainwave-sensing headsets, also known as EEG headsets.
EEG headsets allow users to use only their thoughts to control various robotic toys and video games. Although there are only a handful on the market, brainwave-sensing headsets are becoming increasingly popular for obvious reasons.
However, according to the researchers, there’s a serious reason for concern over this piece of technology. Nitesh Saxena, Ph.D., associate professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Ph.D. student Ajaya Neupane and and former master’s student Md Lutfor Rahman, found that when a user of an EEG headset pauses a video game in order to log in to their bank account, he/she puts himself/herself at risk for having his/her passwords stolen by a malicious software program. Other sensitive and personal data can be stolen in the same way.
So, the team advises that instead of focusing on developing more advanced brain-computer technologies, the companies should first focus on safety and security aspects of EEG headsets.
Source:
University of Alabama at Birmingham via ScienceDaily (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170701081756.htm)
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