No More Typed Passwords, Berkeley Researchers Develop Passthoughts

“Instead of typing your password, in the future you may only have to think your password,” explains a UC Berkeley School of Information press release about new research that utilizes brainwaves to authenticate users instead of passwords of numbers and letters. With a $100 consumer-friendly brainwave-reading headset, the Neurosky MindSet, Professor John Chuang found that the mere task of concentrating on one’s breath was enough to uniquely identify them.
 
Brainwave devices, or Electroencephalograms (EEG), measure electrical activity along the scalp, in the form of wavelengths known to be associated with certain moods, mental states and behaviors. For decades, cognitive scientists have used EEG devices as therapy for a range of mental-health issues, from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) to post-traumatic stress disorder.