Should the FDA Assess Medical Device Defenses Against Hackers?

gManZboy writes "The vulnerability of wireless medical devices to hacking has now attracted attention in Washington. Although there has not yet been a high-profile case of such an attack, a proposal has surfaced that the Food and Drug Administration or another federal agency assess the security of medical devices before they're sold. A Department of Veterans Affairs study showed that between January 2009 and spring 2011, there were 173 incidents of medical devices being infected with malware. The VA has taken the threat seriously enough to use virtual local area networks to isolate some 50,000 devices. Recently, researchers from Purdue and Princeton Universities announced that they had built a prototype firewall known as MedMon to protect wireless medical devices from outside interference."

Comments

Re:No

[WrongSizeGlass]

More money down the shitter. I can't think of anything a hacker would gain from a medical device. What would be the point? Are hackers just evil and nefarious and out to hurt people in the hospital for the lulz? I doubt it.

Some just do it to see if it can be done, some of them *are* out to extort money and will hurt people in the process.

Re:Better idea:

[IorDMUX]

You can't tear someone open every month when you need to adjust their insulin pump.

I understand your point, but... As a user of an insulin pump myself, I'd like to clarify that it is an external device, usually carried on the belt or in a pocket, as it needs to be refilled every few days and adjusted quite often. There are implantable insulin pumps in existence, but these are primarily for research purposes, and are not commercial devices to treat diabetes.