Brainwave sensing headsets are becoming increasingly popular to control robotlike toy and telecasting game using just your mind , but technical school experts fear that this Modern technology might make people vulnerable to password theft .
Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham have conducted astudy(currently in pressure ) on these gadgets , also eff as electroencephalograph ( EEG ) headset , and showed that they can be used to work out a substance abuser ’s parole if they are wearing it while doing something like online banking .
An EEG headset tracks the substance abuser ’s optic processes and handwriting bm , so the researchers had 12 volunteers typecast a series of every which way generated PINs and passwords while wearing the headset . The squad then used an algorithm to see if they could judge what the user were typing .
The package needed only 200 characters to start make an educated guess and was able to severely reduce the potential characters used . The odds for trying to guess a four - finger’s breadth numerical PIN go from one in 10,000 to one in 20 , and the chances of approximate a six - letter password die from about one in 500,000 to one in 500 .
" In a literal - world approach , a hacker could facilitate the training step required for the malicious programme to be most accurate , " co - writer Professor Nitesh Saxena said in astatement , " by requesting that the user come in a predefined set of numbers so as to re-start the secret plan after intermit it to take a open frame , similar to the way CAPTCHA is used to verify users when lumber onto websites .
" These emerging devices open immense opportunities for daily drug user . However , they could also raise significant surety and privateness threat as company work to recrudesce even more advanced brainpower - computer interface technology . "
EEG headset have been used in medicinal drug for over 50 years to study the brain without having to nose the skull open . More recently , they have also been used to serve masses with handicap interact with helpful tech . As these EEG headsets becomes cheaper , it ’s only natural that they may be used in popular gadgets .
" Given the growing popularity of EEG headsets and the kind of ways in which they could be used , it is inevitable that they will become part of our daily life history , including while using other equipment , " Saxena added . " It is crucial to analyze the possible surety and privacy peril assort with this come forth applied science to raise user ' awareness of the risk and develop viable solutions to malicious fire . "
The researchers are looking at ways to make the EEG more strong , like adding noise to signals when the user is typing for example .
