At the 21st USENIX Security Symposium in Seattle earlier this month, University of Oxford scientist Ivan Martinovic delivered a talk about the currently-theoretical-only possibility of ‘mind hackers’ covertly obtaining secret information from people’s brainwaves.

Martinovic, who is exploring the future potential of brainwave-reading technology, is of the opinion that it is theoretically possible for ‘mind hackers’ to get access to people’s bank information as well as PIN codes by reading their mind.

According to Martinovic and his research team - which also comprised scientists from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Geneva -, this theoretical possibility of obtaining secrets by reading minds largely results from the use of wireless EEG headsets, such as the $229-priced Emotiv EPOC, which presently are not available for the mass market.

Though wireless EEG headsets are chiefly used by people who use headsets for playing games, and controlling wheelchairs and other such devices, there is a possibility of ‘mind hackers’ conceivably hacking their brains if rogue applications are downloaded.

As per Martinovic, an analysis of the P300 response – which is a distinct brain pattern associated with recognition of familiar things - has revealed that since the use of headsets allows people to control their computer with their brainwaves, ‘mind hackers’ can hypothetically create a kind of “brain spyware” app for tricking people into disclosing their personal details; thus covertly using brainwaves to obtain the information.