Beyond the Skull: Extending Zero Trust to Brain-Computer Interfaces and the Era of “Mind-as-a-Service”

Abstract

Fabio Correa Xavier*

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are moving from research laboratories to consumer and medical markets, enabling paralyzed users to text, trade cryptocurrency and navigate the web by thought alone. As neural data become routable packets, the classic network perimeter dissolves a second time this time inside the skull. This paper introduces Zero Trust Neural (ZTN), a security paradigm that adapts the “never trust, always verify” doctrine to continuous streams of cortical intent, and frames the emerging business model of cognitive outsourcing as Mind-as-a-Service (MaaS). We survey the current BCI landscape, quantify its attack surface, and propose a multilayer architecture that combines cryptographic provenance, continuous intent authentication and out- of-band cognitive challenge-response. Finally, we discuss the socioeconomic and regulatory implications of MaaS and outline a research agenda for securing neural computing before mass adoption.

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