Quick, somebody wrap Dick Cheney in aluminum foil
Any of you readers who carry implanted, wirelessly programmed pacemakers or defibrillators, I don’t want you getting overly excited over this, but … a hacker could stop your heart. OK, it’s totally theoretical, there’s never been a reported incident and medical device makers say they’re adding security all the time, but still. A team of computer security researchers has found that under laboratory conditions, they were able gain wireless access to a combination pacemaker-defibrillator and reprogram it to shut down or deliver potentially fatal jolts of electricity. They were also able to read personal patient data embedded in the device. “The risks to patients now are very low, but I worry that they could increase in the future,” said Tadayoshi Kohno, a lead researcher on the project.
“I find it absolutely terrifying, the idea of having computer-controlled devices implanted in us,” said Aviel Rubin, a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University who wasn’t involved in the research. “If you can imagine what you might do in a very busy area, sending out a signal that would cause all of the people in the local area’s implanted devices to start operating incorrectly, it’s a really scary future we’re headed towards.” Until recently, the FDA’s main concern over radio-equipped medical devices has been the possibility of unintentional electrical interference, but with the category growing to include drug-delivery pumps and spinal-cord stimulators, more attention is being paid to security. Still, says device maker Medtronic, security has to be balanced against other factors. You wouldn’t want to have your doctor playing guess-the-password while you’re coding on the table.
This does not come as a surprise to those who study risks in technology. Vendors resist investing in additional hardware (processing power and memory) and software development to deploy robust and secure devices. The technology to lock down devices exists today. Unless mandated by regulators or threatened with legal action, device manufacturers will opt for the easy way out.
Somehow this got me thinking of the jerks that kept turning off displays at a recent trade show, somehow thinking it was funny. Maybe they’ll be able to use this pacemaker idea to bump up the fun to the next level.
I’ve always wanted to kill loud cell phone talkers by killing the phone. Is this a new way? Is it ethical? What are the societal antecedants and what are the repercussions of such angelic behavior.
TV BE GONE is a very nice tool. Turns off CNN in the terminal lounge, etc. Sorry if it drills pacemakers.
Perhaps those who zapped the trade show displays did something for humanity.
sniff sniff, do I smell a new movie plot?
“Give us 40 billion dollars or we will fry every pacemaker in the world, muuuhahahaha”
The movie’s already been made: at the end of “Escape From LA”, Snake Plissken uses the doomsday widget to destroy every electronic device on earth. The moment I saw it, I thought, “Pacemakers, you jerk!”