---
title: Cyborg Security
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2023/program/proposals/999
beginning: '2023-11-03T17:10:00.000-07:00'
end: '2023-11-03T17:30:00.000-07:00'
resources:
  internet_archive_identifier: SeaGL2023-Cyborg_Security
presenters:
- name: Dawn Cooper
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/1143
  gravatar_id: b319f5fed942d643d22bf0f93aff0b48
  biography: |-
    Dawn (lisushka) likes to tinker with cloud infrastructure and security, and regularly goes down rabbit holes in a futile search for ways to develop systems that are both reliable and impenetrable. As well as accidental accessibility advocacy, Dawn can regularly be found sharing knowledge within the cloud infrastructure, security, and DevOps communities.

    Outside work, Dawn is an occasional author, kitchen alchemist, and raging sportsball fan.
---

So you're thinking about becoming a cyborg. It may or may not surprise you to learn that there are several of us around already, and while cybernetic enhancement can greatly improve our lives, it also has its downsides. Adaptive devices used by people with disabilities and medical conditions have been failing in unexpected ways for years, despite oversight from government bodies. Recreational implants, which are much less regulated, have even more scope for interesting bugs. On the other hand, while medical implants require extensive testing and are almost always closed-source, it's possible to build your own recreational implant with entirely open source code and get someone to install it for you - theoretically.

How do we secure medical devices that constantly collect telemetry? How hard would it be for someone to hack that NFC chip that you got implanted in your hand? And when we find flaws in these machines, how are we meant to fix them if they're already in our bodies? Whether you're interested in joining the human IoT network for recreational purposes, want to explore, code, and create implantable devices yourself, or have a medical need for augmentation, join me for this briefing to prepare for the security and privacy implications of connecting ourselves directly to the Internet.
