Information security considerations unique to advanced neuroprosthetics

Information security is a large and complex field. While there are fundamental information security principles whose relevance is universal, the ways in which these principles are applied and elaborated in particular circumstances is subject to specialized practices and bodies of knowledge. The techniques used to secure a large organization’s archive of decades of printed personnel files are different than those used to secure a factory’s robotic manufacturing systems or an individual consumer’s smartphone. As with all kinds of information systems that have been developed by humankind, advanced neuroprosthetic devices present a unique array of information security problems and possibilities that exist within a particular set of technological, legal, political, ethical, social, and cultural contexts.1 In this chapter we highlight a number of issues that may not be relevant for many other kinds of information systems but which give rise to considerations that are critical for the information security of advanced neuroprosthetic devices. Many of the issues discussed below constitute recurring themes that will be revisited in different contexts throughout the rest of this book.