What Happens If Neuralink Is Hacked? Five Scenarios for an Attack on Elon Musk's Brain Chip

In the world of cybersecurity, any device that transmits data can be hacked. Now imagine the chip under your skull being at risk.

In the world of cyber security, any device that sends data can be hacked. Now imagine the chip under your skull being compromised.

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Elon Musk is a master of creating glamorous images of the future; A chip finer than a strand of hair that cures disability and links a human to a cyborg being. But in the world of technology, any device that sends data can be manipulated. In this case, by installing this chip, is it possible for the human brain to become infected, for hackers to take control of the person or tamper with his thoughts box?

For centuries, humans have relied on their hands and tongue to communicate with the world around them. If the hand cannot move or the voice does not come out of the larynx, the surrounding world becomes an impenetrable dead end. Scientists have tried to break this deadlock with an electronic bridge; A bridge called "brain-computer interface" or BCI. This technology is divided into two main categories:

Among the active names in this field, the "Nuralink" company owned by Elon Musk has attracted the most attention from the media and users. In its latest report, Neuralink showed that patients who received this chip were able to steer a wheelchair by relying only on the neural activity of their brain. "Meta" recently funded a project that decodes people's mental sentences with an accuracy of about 80%.

Headbands such as Mendi or Muse have a relatively similar function and with fNIRS and EEG technologies and providing immediate neurofeedback, they teach the brain how to focus on a subject or distance itself from stress.

At first glance, these phenomena have a strange resemblance to miracles; But there is nothing magical beneath this deceptive layer. We are simply dealing with an electronic circuit, a bundle of ultra-thin filaments and software for signal processing.

Any device that sends a signal, executes code, and connects to a network or other device is a "digital terminal" for security purposes. When this terminal is placed inside the human skull, the sensitivity of the story reaches the highest level.

However, the key question is not whether a hacker can remotely chain a person's will or control their thoughts; The more important question is what are the consequences of breaking into these systems in the real world and how can attackers disrupt such a system?

To understand security risks, we must first understand how the pieces of this puzzle fit together. The Neuralink N1 chip consists of 1024 electrodes distributed over 64 very fine flexible filaments. These threads are placed with micrometric precision by a surgical robot in the tissue of the motor cortex of the brain. The purpose of the electrodes is to read the very small electrical impulses that neurons produce when they decide to move.

The manufacturing company emphasized the ability of the chip to withstand the physiological conditions of the body, but some very important things have not been confirmed yet:

Apart from how secure the chip itself is against cyber attacks; The brain-computer communication process in Neuralink includes four parts:

1. Implant: The hardware part that is located under the scalp and skull bone and is responsible for recording and primary processing of biological signals. 2. Wireless communication: recorded signals are sent as digital data over radio waves (similar to advanced Bluetooth protocols) to an external device. 3. Decoding software and artificial intelligence: A program installed on a user's computer or smartphone that translates the brain's complex electrical patterns into understandable commands for the computer (eg, mouse pointer movement). 4. Target device or software: The same computer, tablet or software that will eventually execute the decrypted command.

By separating the chain, we realize that the security of the brain-computer interface is not only limited to the chip inside the head. A hacker can attack any of the links in this chain to penetrate. Hacking into a laptop with decryption software installed on it is much easier than sending unknown waves to the skull.

Contrary to the popular belief that sees the threat of hacking in the form of scary Hollywood scenarios, research in the field of security shows that the threats are technical, concrete and categorizable.

One of the most interesting and at the same time most dangerous attack methods is physical manipulation of the signal sent to the device. 2023 MIT researchers have shown that using special radio waves, it is possible to produce fake signals that brain reading devices (such as EEG headsets) mistake for real brain activity.

Suppose you are controlling the virtual keyboard with your mind and you want to type hello. A hacker near you will trick the device into thinking you've chosen a different word by sending annoying radio waves.

Of course, these tests were performed on headsets that are placed outside the skull. The architecture of the Neuralink chip, which is implanted under the scalp and on the brain tissue, is different, and it will be more difficult to penetrate it this way.

However, the research reminds us of an important principle in cybersecurity: a brain-computer interface (BCI) system must distinguish biological patterns from hackers' jamming.

Raw brain signals are nothing but fluctuating graphs. No word "click" is registered in the brain; Rather, AI learns that a certain pattern of neuronal firing means a decision to click. Machine learning models have this heavy duty.

If the intruder gains access to the training process of these models or manipulates its training data (a phenomenon called data poisoning), the system will suffer from behavioral distortions.

Neuralink or any other brain chip ultimately needs a computer or smartphone to run the signal translation on it. If that machine is infected with a Trojan, ransomware, or malware, the attacker takes full control of the outputs without having to tamper with the brain chip.

A common malware can interrupt the BCI software's access to the operating system, steal messages and user information, or disable the programs the user needs.

Of course, this does not mean that the brain implant is automatically infected by malware on the laptop; In order to reach the internal layers of the implant, the attacker will need to pass through the hardware security layers and communication protocols of the device.

Wireless connectivity has made the use of brain chips very convenient and user-friendly. There is no need to connect wires and cables to your head. But wherever there is wireless communication, there is also the risk of eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.

In Neuralink, the N1 chip transmits data wirelessly. If the connection is not properly encrypted, a hacker in the vicinity of the user can intercept the data in mid-air. Of course, it is not just listening; A hacker may try to impersonate an authorized device and communicate with the brain chip.

Although Nuralink has registered patents to secure communication, until the technical details and encryption standards are reviewed by independent experts, it cannot be sure of its complete security.

Sometimes the data itself is the most valuable asset. It is true that this data cannot reveal the user's hidden thoughts or secrets, but it can reveal movement patterns, communication attempts, and even neurological health status. Hackers can steal this valuable data and use it to build accurate profiles of people or even blackmail. Unlike a cracked password that can be easily replaced, the brain's neural patterns cannot be replaced.

On the other hand, the attack can be of the "Denial of Service" (DoS) type. If a hacker disrupts or overloads the chip's software communication, the system will fail. For a healthy person, turning off the mouse may cause a few minutes of trouble; But for a person suffering from limb paralysis, whose entire communication with the outside world depends on this interface, being deprived of service will mean a sudden disconnection with the world around him and those around him.

This is a question that worries many people. The short answer is: No with current Neuralink technology. The current version of Neuralink does not have the ability to write or send electrical pulses to brain tissue to create memories or give commands to muscles. Therefore, by manipulating the device, the hacker cannot shock the brain, change emotions, or force the person to do something.

In the future, the story could be different. If the next generation of chips sends electrical pulses to the brain to treat diseases like Parkinson's or severe depression (like the deep brain stimulation or DBS devices that already exist), then the story will change completely.

Researchers have shown that if an attacker is able to change the decoded neural signals or control commands of the brain interface, the prosthetic limb may perform an unwanted movement or the device that helps the patient control the movement may malfunction. Such an attack on the interfaces connected to the motion system can bring the risk of physical damage.

The problem is not limited to hacking and cyber infiltration. In fact, we still do not fully understand the long-term effects of continuous stimulation and manipulation of brain waves on neural pathways. It is possible that the brain becomes dependent on these external stimuli and loses its natural and automatic function.

In the world of technology, we don't have such a thing as an unhackable system; But the developers can make it so difficult and expensive for hackers that practically no one will go for it. There are a few basic and critical steps to secure brain chips:

The scariest image of brain chip hacking is a stranger taking control of a person's thoughts and behavior. But current evidence and information do not support such a scenario. The real and more tangible risk of private data theft, software malfunction, chip-connected device becoming viral, and the failure of a system that a person relies on for the most basic things of life.

For people with severe motor disabilities, the brain interface is a technological miracle that gives them back their lost independence. That's why they should be as reliable as they are from a medical point of view, but also impenetrable from a security point of view.