‘Insulin pump, monitor too can be hacked’

Even the human bloodstream isn’t safe from computer hackers. A security researcher who is diabetic has identified flaws that could allow an attacker to remotely control insulin pumps and alter the readouts of blood-sugar monitors. As a result, diabetics could get too much or too little insulin. 

Jay Radcliffe, a diabetic who experimented on his own equipment, shared his findings before releasing them Thursday at the Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas. “My initial reaction was that this was really cool from a technical perspective,” he said. “The second reaction was one of sheer terror, to know that there’s no security around the devices which are a very active part of keeping me alive.”
Medical devices like pacemakers, operating room monitors and surgical instruments including deep-brain stimulators are being made with the ability to transmit vital health information from a body to doctors . Some devices can be remotely controlled by medical professionals. Although there’s no proof that anyone has used Radcliffe’s techniques, his findings raise fears about the safety of medical devices as they’re brought into the Internet age.