Hacking Medical Devices.

Insulin pumps, pacemakers, defibrillators...the list goes on. A new study shows how hacktivists can do much more than take down a Sony website.


What diabetic tries to remotely access his insulin pump?

Jay Radcliffe, a security enthusiast, has successfully altered the insulin levels from his pump using a combination of remote devices at a distance of over half a mile. These findings could have devastating consequences as those devices in which many of us rely on may be turned into a SCADA, (supervisory control and data acquisition), system.

Here's a shocking excerpt:

All wireless devices are susceptible to eavesdropping and that includes medical devices like pacemakers, defibrillators and insulin pumps. I read about this in 2008 when a group of computer scientists published their research entitled, "Pacemakers and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators: Software Radio Attacks and Zero-Power Defenses" [PDF], highlighting how an malicious party could use an antenna, radio hardware, and a PC to wirelessly deliver a potentially lethal shock to an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Then I read a fictionalized heart hacking version in which cyber-terrorist hackers were wirelessly exploiting vulnerabilities in pacemakers and insulin pumps to carry out untraceable assassinations against political targets.

When sites or institutions are hacked - a few dollars are lost. When a life saving machine is hacked - someone dies.

"Allegedly" Anonymous had hacked an epileptic help website when the group where first finding their legs. The hack involved lots of flashing colours and bright lights. It caused quite the uproar. This new study shows that if a device is wireless or connected tightly Internet - it's susceptible.

I do not want to live in this world as an old man with anti security software updates required for my pacemaker.