As more wearable devices are introduced to consumers, the greater chances are that criminals can hack those devices while consumers are wearing them.

Someone could hack a smartwatch, a pacemaker or an insulin pump and potentially use it to kill a consumer or hold them hostage just by intercepting and analyzing wireless signals. While this hasn’t happened yet, it is possible.

Now, researchers at Purdue University are developing a way to increase security on what they call the “internet of body” to secure the network that is held by a person and their devices by keeping the communication signals within the body itself.

Body fluids carry electrical signals and these so-called “body area networks” use Bluetooth technology to send signals on and around the body. These electromagnetic waves can be picked up within at least a 10 meter radius of a person.

"We're connecting more and more devices to the human body network, from smartwatches and fitness trackers to head-mounted virtual reality displays," said Shreyas Sen, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University. “The challenge has not only been keeping this communication within the body so that no one can intercept it, but also getting higher bandwidth and less battery consumption.”

Researchers were able to demonstrate by using a device that couples signals in the electro-quasistatic range that human body communication can be more secure, not going beyond a centimeter off the skin and using 100 times less energy than traditional Bluetooth communication.

Through a prototype watch, a person can receive a signal from anywhere on the body — from the ears to the toes — while the skin's thickness makes no difference in how the signal carries.

Other uses could include using the device to allow doctors to reprogram medical devices without invasive surgery or to help streamline the advent of closed-loop bioelectronics medicine in which the wearable or medical device functions as a drug but without the side effects.

The full research can be found in the journal Scientific Reports.