The neuroethical importance of reasons bypassing
By Dr. Peter Reiner
Recently, the storied Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab carried out a formal threat analysis of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and its supporting infrastructure (1). The basic setup for DBS is simple: an electrode is stereotaxically implanted in a patient’s brain, and thin wires are fed under the skin to a device that delivers occasional pulses of electricity. Over 100,000 people have been implanted with DBS electrodes, primarily for movement disorders but also to ameliorate symptoms of other neurological and psychiatric diseases (2). Newer models allow for remote control of the stimulation parameters via Bluetooth, either from a computer or a smartphone (3), and it is this development that prompted the threat analysis.
Recently, the storied Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab carried out a formal threat analysis of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and its supporting infrastructure (1). The basic setup for DBS is simple: an electrode is stereotaxically implanted in a patient’s brain, and thin wires are fed under the skin to a device that delivers occasional pulses of electricity. Over 100,000 people have been implanted with DBS electrodes, primarily for movement disorders but also to ameliorate symptoms of other neurological and psychiatric diseases (2). Newer models allow for remote control of the stimulation parameters via Bluetooth, either from a computer or a smartphone (3), and it is this development that prompted the threat analysis.
