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Keeping Pacemakers Safe From Hackers
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.
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!
Think anyone will complain that they won't be able to have full access to the hardware they purchased?
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I had no idea that things have gotten so bad that hearts are being hacked.
Well the article talks about how the threats have been demonstrated in the lab by a fella named Kevin Fu, but it doesn't mention it being a major problem right now:
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, and Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Washington. They showed how to glean personal information from such a device, how to drain its batteries remotely, and how to make it malfunction in dangerous ways. The two researchers stress that the threat is minimal now, but argue that it is vital to find ways to protect wireless medical devices before malicious users discover and exploit vulnerabilities.
So this defense seems primarily like foresight rather than a hindsight, "Shit fixitfixitfixtfixit!" moment...So in response to your pondering, I don't think too many hearts are being hacked right now, nor that things have gotten that bad. Rather, it just seems like two security researchers are doing their job to keep the defensive actions one step ahead of offensive actions...
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Coworker had a pacemaker put in. Said she held on to two connectors and they could change the rate by sending signals through one arm, through the pacemaker to the receiver in the other.
I joked with the tone generator (for phone equipment) with other employees, but not with her.
I have a spinal implant, which is basically an implanted tens-unit, that I use to block the pain from the degenerative disease I have. Although the device has a top level setting, it still hurts if I crank it up that far. If someone was able to remotely turn on my device and turn the intensity up and shorten the waveform they could bring me to my knees. If I couldn't turn it off I'd be in some serious trouble, since I couldn't flee.
As much as it's not life-threatening in my case, it's still pretty damn scary. I can't imagine having a pacemaker that could be disrupted remotely. Although talk about a great tool for the CIA for remote-kills.
Someday, some geek will try to overclock his artificial heart...
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
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 ...
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
One half of winning the hearts and minds of the people could be done using only a wireless PDA
Who, oh, do you mean the draft dodging guy who smokes hashish and sleeps with hippie chicks while writing crazy ass cyberpunk drivel?
I'm quite sure he's referring to William Gibson, the Tony-Award-winning playwright and novelist who died last year at the age of 94, still writing. His best-known work is "The Miracle Worker," a true American stage classic.
Why anyone on Slashdot would refer to that other William Gibson is beyond me.
This gives a whole new meaning to heart attack.
Someone had to say it.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
My dad got a defibrillator fitted a year back. It has bluetooth and 5mb of memory. I didn't want to connect to it since killing a parent at Christmas would probably sour the mood.
3 months ago he got it updated and was ill for 4 weeks until a new patch came(although I suspect he milked it a bit for attention). Apparently an overflow in the software was causing small discharges! We don't need to protect against hackers, protecting against the programmers would be a good start. At least I can go around and say that my doctor flashed my dad. :D ..AC because I don't want my family medical history on the net.
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?
I reserve the write to mangle english.
I'm sure they "got it". It's just not funny. Thespian. Lesbian. Yeah, they both end in "ian". And you're pretending to be "dumb guy". Hilarious. Yeah. They got it.
I have one. I get "tuneups" every six months. Pretty cool how they can change its settings with a wireless interface and a few taps of a touchscreen.
Last time I was in for a data dump on my pacemaker, my cardiologist excitedly explained "there are a _google_ combinations of settings on this device!" Then he paused, and grudgingly conceded most of them would kill me.
Even if allowed to replace implanted medical firmware, such hacking would be unpopular. We all know how reliable fixes, tweaks & updates to software are (i.e.: NOT). A single "oops" could leave the user unconscious in seconds and dead in minutes; even if not a terminal error, screwups can range anywhere from very uncomfortable to subtly distressing. During early diagnostic runs post-implantation, several times I found myself in a fetal position as a bug (!) caused repeated serious abdominal convulsions (didn't hurt, but did cause uncontrolled laughing in a "MTV Jackass" kinda way); nobody ever figured out why (technician: "did I do that?", me: "YEAH!!"). Later I found sleeping on my left side was undesirable, as natural abdominal compression caused diaphragm twitching with each pulse - harmless, but distressing enough to stop the practice (later resolved by reducing lead voltage and increasing pulse width, affecting battery life). When asked what the failure condition symptoms would be, my cardiac surgeon said simply "you'll pass out" (implying not waking up - ever).
Yes, the libertarian principles exist to demand patients have self-funded access to medical gear allowing reprogramming of implanted pacemakers or other medical devices. Absolutely I stand in support of such a notion. In practice, however, methinks this will be - shall we say - a self-correcting issue: those who do, and make mistakes, will die.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?