Mark Gasson should have booked off sick.
After all, he caught something unusual.
In fact, he's the first human every to be infected with a computer virus.
Dr. Gasson, a researcher at the UK's University of Reading, lives with an implant under his skin. It's a more advanced version of your pet's ID chip.
During his days, the tiny rice-like bit of wizardry unlocks his phone and opens security doors.
But he wanted to explore its risks as well as the wonders, so he infected his device, and successfully transmitted the virus to an outside target.
The experiment, Gasson told QMI Agency, explores the way things like pacemakers and cochlear implants may become corrupted.
But he doesn't think there is an outstanding concern where viruses are smuggled, below the skin of terrorists, into government or industry as a techno-weapon.
"I think we have to be careful," he said of the threat. "You wouldn't expect a virus in your home computer to necessarily be able to transfer to your phone.
"It is not the case that an infected implant could simply start infecting all technology around it."
But Gasson's ability to be infected and then infect another device may show how humans may one day transmit information without even knowing it
Gasson predicts implanted technology will become widely used - much like cosmetic surgery.
So the debate over how they're used to track us will then likely run deeper than the devices themselves.
Prof. Rafael Capurro of the Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute of Information Ethics in Germany pointed out during an interview with the BBC: "If someone can get online access to your implant, it could be serious."
As for Gasson, he isn't sweating his infection, as he prepares to outline his research during a conference next month.
"Currently I still have the virus," he said.
But have no fear of standing too close or sharing the TV remote with him.
"The potential damage is restricted to the one system for which the virus has been designed."
Source: BBC
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