New Contraception Wi-Fi Chip Raises Security Concerns

MicroCHIPS, a medical technology company, has released a chip that helps women wirelessly control their contraception plan, according to Mashable.

The microchip, which measures 20x20x7 milimeters, is implanted under the skin in any soft area of the body and controlled to release a birth control hormone in daily doses for up to 16 years. It can conveniently be turned on and off using a remote control.

Regarding security implications, the company producing it says the device cannot be interfered with to, for example, cause an overdose. The chip includes a micro-clock that remembers when the last dose was delivered. What`s more, the substance is released only when an electric current passes through the battery`s chip and melts it. The battery is not powerful enough to open all the reservoirs simultaneously, MicroCHIPS says.

Apart from “a combination of physical and digital safeguards,” the remote control sends commands only if positioned a few centimeters from the patient.

“A hacker would have to contact the patient’s skin to reach the device, and all the commands are sent by radio frequency rather than by Bluetooth” said Robert Farra, MicroCHIPS President and COO.

Others think the device is not hacker-proof.

“In every device I`ve evaluated in my career I`ve always found a way to get in,” says Jay Radcliffe from security firm Rapid 7. “They’re setting the bar very high to achieve being secure for 15 years inside a person’s body.”

The chip, founded by the Gates Foundation, could become available by 2018, according to CNET.