

Microsoft Ponders UV Password Tattoos to Protect Pacemakers - one010101
http://www.switched.com/2010/04/17/microsoft-ponders-uv-password-tattoos-to-protect-pacemakers?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadget

======
teuobk
The problems with these types of techniques is that they don't necessarily
improve security, but they do add complexity.

In current medical devices that support so-called "distance telemetry," the
implanted device is bonded with a base device using "proximal telemetry."
Proximal telemetry works only at distances of a few centimeters or less and
tends to be limited by the sensitivity of the receivers within the implanted
devices. Only after the authentication and key exchange has occurred in the
proximal mode is the distance mode activated, which then affords the users
several meters of freedom.

The assumption is that a person who can stay close enough to the patient for
the length of time required for the devices to bond is implicitly worthy of
access. This is the same assumption that has served the industry well for the
past few decades, although before the distance devices, the entire session
would be conducted in proximal mode.

The bigger risk, as I see it, is that an attacker could successfully
impersonate an already-bonded device. In that situation, neither proximal
bonding nor UV passwords would help.

------
nfnaaron
Makes me think of mandatory ID tattoos. I realize that's a leap, but that is
what first came to mind.

~~~
contextfree
The paper actually brings this up.

"The use of UV ink may be of less consolation to those patients who associate
tattoos with their use as involuntary identifiers. In the holocaust,
identification tattoos reminded prisoners no longer controlled their own
bodies. Giving the patient a choice of whether or not to use
micropigmentation, the type of encoding to use, and some control over the
process that generates the encoding should help to address these concerns."

~~~
cstross
Also note, IIRC tattoos are forbidden in judaism
([http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ethics/Our_Bodies/...](http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ethics/Our_Bodies/Adorning_the_Body/Tattoos.shtml))
and possibly other religions. (Although there's a halachic "out" for forbidden
practices where the intention is to save lives, so this might be negotiable
for medical emergency access to a pacemaker.)

