You shouldn’t believe everything you read in a headline. I’ve supplied one above that is far more accurate but far less alarming than the one provided by the original story below.
Scientists Successfully ‘Hack’ Brain To Obtain Private Data (CBS – Seattle, WA)
The scientists took an off-the-shelf Emotiv brain-computer interface, a device that costs around $299, which allows users to interact with their computers by thought.
The scientists then sat their subjects in front of a computer screen and showed them images of banks, people, and PIN numbers. They then tracked the readings coming off of the brain, specifically the P300 signal.
The P300 signal is typically given off when a person recognizes something meaningful, such as someone or something they interact with on a regular basis.
Scientists that conducted the experiment found they could reduce the randomness of the images by 15 to 40 percent, giving them a better chance of guessing the correct answer.
The case the author wants to make is way overstated, which it too bad because the topic is very interesting without over hyping it.
The controversial part of what the story describes (quoted above) is sort of a half-way house between the hack vs con discussion. I guess in the distant future, people will have to be more wary of street-corner magicians and psychologists but the PIN probably isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
This may be for a future post but I suspect that due to biometrics the PIN will become more common as complex passwords become more rare, even in the presence of brain-computer-interface wielding mountebanks.
