BrainsCanbeHacked.WhyShouldYouCare?

Tamara Bonaci DepartmentofElectricalEngineering

UniversityofWashington

TheEraofDevicesDevicesADachedtoUs

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[Pictures credit: Forbes, US News, Wired]

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DevicesADachedtoOurBrains

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NielsenConsumerNeuroscience

NECOMIMINeuroSky

EPOCEmoJv

Newandupcomingproductsmakebrainmalwarepossible!

[Picture credit: forbes.com] [Picture credit: Lucid] [Picture credit: mindtecstore]

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BrainMalware?

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How Hackers Could Get Inside YourHead With ‘Brain Malware’

WRITTEN BY VICTORIA TURK (/AUTHOR/VICTORIATURK)

(/EN_US?TRK_SOURCE=HEADER-LOGO)

August 3, 2016 // 07:50 AM EST

Hackers have spyware in your mind. You’re minding your business, playing a game or

scrolling through social media, and all the while they’re gathering your most private

information direct from your brain signals. Your likes and dislikes. Your political

preferences. Your sexuality. Your PIN.

It’s a futuristic scenario, but not that futuristic. The idea of securing our thoughts is a

real concern (http://motherboard.vice.com/read/our-brains-will-be-hacked-tracked-

and-data-mined) with the introduction of brain-computer interfaces—devices that are

controlled by brain signals such as EEG (electroencephalography), and which are

already used in medical scenarios and, increasingly, in non-medical applications such

as gaming (http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/mind-control-is-going-mainstream).

Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle say that we need to act fast to

implement a privacy and security framework to prevent our brain signals from being

used against us before the technology really takes off.

“There’s actually very little time,” said electrical engineer Howard Chizeck over Skype.

“If we don’t address this quickly, it’ll be too late.”

I first met Chizeck and fellow engineer Tamara Bonaci when I visited the University of

Washington Biorobotics Lab to check out their work on hacking teleoperated surgical

robots (http://motherboard.vice.com/read/surgery-robot-hacked-raven-ii). While I was

there, they showed me some other hacking research they were working on, including

how they could use a brain-computer interface (BCI), coupled with subliminal

messaging in a videogame, to extract private information about an individual.

How Hackers Could Get Inside YourHead With ‘Brain Malware’

WRITTEN BY VICTORIA TURK (/AUTHOR/VICTORIATURK)

(/EN_US?TRK_SOURCE=HEADER-LOGO)

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WhatisBrainSpyware?AnymaliciousapplicaJonthatextractsprivateinformaJonaboutusersfromtheirneuralsignals[MarJnovicetal.,2012]

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[Picture credit: University of Washington]

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WhyDoesBrainSpywareWork?

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SIGNAL ACQUISITION

Feature extraction

Classification algorithm

SIGNAL PROCESSING

BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE

Digitized signal

Neuroprosthesis control

Neural signals

Neurogame control

Sensory feedback

Neural spelling

Neuroprosthesis

P300 Speller

Neurogame

ENGINEERINGPERSPECTIVE

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WhyDoesBrainSpywareWork?

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ENGINEERINGPERSPECTIVE

SIGNAL ACQUISITION

Feature extraction

Classification algorithm

SIGNAL PROCESSING

BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE

Digitized signal

Neuroprosthesis control

Neural signals

Neurogame control

Sensory feedback

Neural spelling

Neuroprosthesis

P300 Speller

NeurogameExtracted private information

Malicious feature

extraction

Malicious classification

algorithm

Malicious BCIapplication

Malicious sensory feedback

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WhyDoesBrainSpywareWork?

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EventRelatedPotenJals(ERPs)-responsesassociatedwithspecificsensory,cogniJveandmotorevents

Time (milliseconds)

ERP

Ampl

itude

(μV)

0

2.5

5.0

7.5

-2.5

-5.0

-200 0 200 400 600 800

P300

N400

P600

ERN

Stimulus

NEURO-SCIENTIFICPERSPECTIVE

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SubliminalBrainSpyware?

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SubliminalBrainSpywareorSubliminalAlarm?

“Whatwedonotseeandwhatwedonotknowcanhurtus”

Brannon,199410

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SubliminalSJmulaJon•  ProcessofaffecJngpeoplewithsJmuliof

whichtheyarenotaware

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HowFeasibleisSubliminalBrainSpyware?

Approach:ExperimentalanalysiswithhumansubjectsusingspeciallydevelopedBCI-game,Flappywhale

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•  Duringthegame:•  5differentsJmulipresentedonthescreenfor7ms•  EachsJmulusrepeated10Jmes•  Users’EEGsignalsrecordedusing7electrodes

HowFeasibleisSubliminalBrainSpyware?

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Time[seconds]EEGsignal[scaledμV

]Time (milliseconds)

ERP

Ampl

itude

(μV)

0

2.5

5.0

7.5

-2.5

-5.0

-200 0 200 400 600 800

P300

N400

P600

ERN

Stimulus

DataPreparaJonandAnalysis

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DataPreparaJonandAnalysis

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EEGsignal[scaledμV

]

EEGsignal[scaledμV

]

Time[ms] Time[ms]

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DataPreparaJonandAnalysis

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Time (milliseconds)

ERP

Ampl

itude

(μV)

0

2.5

5.0

7.5

-2.5

-5.0

-200 0 200 400 600 800

P300

N400

P600

ERN

Stimulus

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FeasibilityofSubliminalADacks

Trainingdata

TesJngdata

IdenJficaJonresult

SVMclassifierforprivatedataextracJon

FeatureextracJon(PrincipalComponent

Analysis)

FlappyWhale,BCI-controlledgame

TimesyncEEG&sJmuli;epochdata

TimesyncEEG&sJmuli;epochdata

FeatureextracJon(PrincipalComponent

Analysis)

Comparisonwithusers’self-reportedpost-gamesurveys

SubliminalinformaJon

extracJonresult

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FeasibilityofSubliminalADacksGam

es

Subjects

TargetsGmulusrecognized

TargetsGmulusreportedbyasubjects

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MiJgaJon-BCIAnonymizer

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Idea:Neuralsignalsshouldbetreatedasauser’spersonallyidenJfiableinformaJon(PII)

vs.

[Picture credit: The Verge] [Picture credit: NeuroFocus]

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BrainsCanbeHacked.WhatCanWeDo?

Understandsystem

UnderstandthreatsDevelop technical

approaches

Developnon-technicalapproaches

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BrainsCanbeHacked.WhatCanWeDo?

Understandsystem

UnderstandthreatsDevelop technical

approaches

Developnon-technical

approaches

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Acknowledgement•  ThisprojectisacollaboraGveworkwith:

•  Professors:RyanCalo,HowardJayChizeck,andTadayoshiKohno•  Doctors:JeffreyHerron,CharlieMatlack,andRadRoberts•  Graduatestudents:TimBrown,BradyHouston,TylerLibey,BrianMogen,PatrickMoore,

KatherinePraD,andMargaretThompson•  Othercollaborators:MaDhewEhlert,EmilyMcReynolds,andHannahWerbel

•  ThankyoutothemembersoftheUWBioRoboGcsLab,TechPolicyLab,andtheNSFCenterforSensorimotorNeuralEngineering

ThisprojectissupportedbytheNSFEngineeringResearchCenterforSensorimotorNeuralEngineering(Award#EEC1028725)andthegrantfromtheUWTechPolicyLab.

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Thankyou

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Contact:TamaraBonacitbonaci@uw.edu@tbonaci

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