Hacker Implants NFC Chip into Hand to Exploit Smartphones

Seth Wahle has just done something a little unorthodox in order to break into any Android smartphone of his choosing. Yes, you guessed it, he implanted a Near Field Communication chip into his hand. What malicious purpose could he have in mind? None, yep none. He implanted the chip between his thumb and forefinger only to demonstrate the dangers that are posed by “biohacking”. In this context, “biohacking” refers to augmenting the human body in order to exploit electronic devices. Yes, I had to clear that up because the word “biohacking” has many different definitions.

To understand the dangers posed by this instance of biohacking, it is important to understand just what a NFC chip does. NFC chips are built into smartphones to manage and transfer files between smartphones. They are also used in mobile payment applications. How is this significant? The chip Seth Wahle has implanted into his hand is able to ping nearby Android smartphones, send them a link, and, after the link is opened by the smartphone’s owner, malicious software is downloaded onto the smartphone. This malicious software connects the smartphone to a remote computer from which the hacker can manipulate the smartphone, steal files, data etc.

Wahle has stated that there are limitations to this type of attack as a smartphone only needs to be locked or rebooted in order to sever its connection to the remote computer. However, this may be overcome by having the malicious program run at boot.

Wahle will be presenting his findings at the Hack Miami conference in May.  

This is a rather neat method to establish a remote connection to unsuspecting smartphones, but is it really worth it? Couldn’t you do the same thing without implanting the chip into your hand? What benefit could implanting the chip into your hand have that makes it a worthwhile endeavor? Wahle has claimed that the chip can’t be seen and is invisible to the unaided eye (however it can be detected by x-ray machines). That alone may be worth the price of admission for some. Wahle had the chip implanted for $40 by means of a really big needle. If you really want to use this method to break into Android smartphones, the price isn’t soul-breaking. Just be sure the needle is clean.

All in all, this is just another method to be added to the growing list of ways hackers can use to exploit your personal devices. It will be interesting to learn of Wahle’s findings. It seems that this technology will have plenty of opportunity to be used given the fact that nearly everyone and their fish has an Android smartphone.