To calm your nerves: the name of the virus was not Snow Crash.
British scientist Dr. Mark Gasson purposely infected the RFID chip in his hand with a computer virus, and successfully proved that such devices can carry malicious programs to other systems, and that those systems in turn could pass on the code to any other chips that came into contact with them.
From the BBC:
Dr Gasson admits that the test is a proof of principle but he thinks it has important implications for a future where medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants become more sophisticated, and risk being contaminated by other human implants.
“With the benefits of this type of technology come risks. We may improve ourselves in some way but much like the improvements with other technologies, mobile phones for example, they become vulnerable to risks, such as security problems and computer viruses.”
I’m not sure what it says about our species that the first person infected by a computer virus did it on purpose. …Wait, WHAT’S THAT DALEK DOING THERE?
