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Keeping Pacemakers Safe From Hackers

Posted by samzenpus on from the blackest-of-black-hats dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control have now developed a scheme for protecting implantable medical devices against wireless attacks. The approach relies on using ultrasound waves to determine the exact distance between a medical device and the wireless reader attempting to communicate with it." I had no idea that things have gotten so bad that hearts are being hacked.

18 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Hacking hearts by devnullkac · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I could hack her heart, she'd really love me...

    --
    What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
    1. Re:Hacking hearts by nametaken · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's not love, it's angina.

    2. Re:Hacking hearts by The+Ultimate+Fartkno · · Score: 3, Funny

      You keep your filthy talk to yourself, mister!

    3. Re:Hacking hearts by Narpak · · Score: 2, Funny

      You'd be pretty heartless to hack a peacemaker.

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      The Long Now Foundation
    4. Re:Hacking hearts by spun · · Score: 5, Funny

      You keep your filthy talk to yourself, mister!

      Hey, now, that's unfair. I know Angina, she's a talented thespian with a very fine epidermis.

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      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    5. Re:Hacking hearts by jayme0227 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, now, that's unfair. I know Angina, she's a talented thespian with a very fine epidermis.

      What does her sexual orientation have to do with anything? You homophobic or something?

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      But then I realized the cable was blue, so I only gave it one star. I hate blue.
    6. Re:Hacking hearts by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think I've seen her.. there's a vas deferens between her left and right legs, right?

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      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    7. Re:Hacking hearts by spun · · Score: 3, Funny

      Can we mention cunning linguist in there somewhere?

      I don't need to stoop that low, as I am a master debater.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  2. No Locked Hardware! by gedrin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Think anyone will complain that they won't be able to have full access to the hardware they purchased?

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    Moderation : -1 Conservative Viewpoint
    1. Re:No Locked Hardware! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      No only should it be open, but there should be an app store for the pace maker. Think of all the exciting heart rhythms you could purchase.

      Maybe they could integrate it to my media pc and home entertainment center!

    2. Re:No Locked Hardware! by Mitchell314 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Idiots, the lot of them. Duct tape is much better than staples for sealing wounds. Much less painful too.

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      I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  3. I can see it now... by Abstrackt · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someday, some geek will try to overclock his artificial heart...

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    They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    1. Re:I can see it now... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Most mammals have an inverse relationship between rate and lifetime. (And barring the use of medicine, probably humans too.) Almost as if there were a limited number of beats allocated...

      And then you die from a null pointer exception?

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  4. Does someone have him for a class. by NoYob · · Score: 2, Funny

    The potential risks of enabling radio communication in implantable medical devices were first highlighted by Kevin Fu, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst,...

    It must have been rough in college for him.

    CS Professor: Now when you call function Foo.

    Fu: What professor?

    Um, nothing. Back to Foo.

    Sir?

    Nothing. Anyway the function, let's call it, "Bar" instead. Now when you call "Bar"

    John Barr, another student: "What sir?

    Professor: Is there anyone named ABC?! Good! Now when you call function ABC ...

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    It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
  5. Winning the hearts and minds by slackoon · · Score: 3, Funny

    One half of winning the hearts and minds of the people could be done using only a wireless PDA

  6. Re:Hearts Being Hacked by Hatta · · Score: 2, Funny

    the threats have been demonstrated in the lab by a fella named Kevin Fu

    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...........

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  7. 63 comments and still.. by StikyPad · · Score: 5, Funny

    This gives a whole new meaning to heart attack.

    Someone had to say it.

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    https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  8. Oblig by Maelwryth · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't go hacking my heart
    I could if I tried
    Honey please forget my wireless
    Baby I'm not that kind
    Don't go hacking my heart
    You take the beat out of me
    Honey when you knocked on my port
    My heart gave you my key
    Nobody knows it
    When I was down
    I was your pawn
    Nobody knows it
    Right from the start
    You stopped my heart
    You stopped my heart
    So don't go hacking my heart
    I won't go hacking your heart
    Don't go hacking my heart


    On a slighly different note. I wonder if Captain Crunch could freak an ear implant?

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    I reserve the write to mangle english.