DARPA’s Intrinsic Cognitive Security program seeks proposals to develop computational science that protects Defense Department systems from potential adversary exploits. The increasing use of mixed reality systems could become a new potential vulnerability.
Mixed reality (MR) merges real and virtual worlds in real time. Adversaries could exploit the intimate connection between users and their MR equipment through various techniques targeting cognition. Examples include:
- Information flooding to induce motion sickness;
- Planting real-world objects to clutter displays;
- Injecting virtual data to distract personnel; and
- Using real-world objects to overwhelm the user with confusing false alarms, etc.