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Ransomware Expected To Hit 'Lifesaving' Medical Devices In 2016 (forrester.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the whatever-can-be-hacked-will-be-hacked dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A surge in ransomware campaigns is expected to hit the medical sector in 2016, according to a recent report published by forecasters at Forrester Research. The paper 'Predictions 2016: Cybersecuirty Swings To Prevention' suggests that the primary hacking trend of the coming year will be "ransomware for a medical device or wearable," arguing that cybercriminals would only have to make mall modifications to current malware to create a feasible attack. Pacemakers and other vital health devices would become prime targets, with attackers toying with their stability and potentially threatening the victim with their own life should the ransom demands not be met.

4 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Smells like FUD by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's my understanding that when you're committing a crime, the last thing you want to do is break even worse laws that will get you a worse sentence if caught. Ransoming encrypted computer files is one thing. Murder is something else.

    1. Re:Smells like FUD by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Easily automated from anywhere in the world, hard to trace, and exploiting utterly useless security.

      Honestly, this was pretty much inevitable.

      The security of most consumer devices is pathetic and useless. The security of medical devices has known to be almost non-existent for years now.

      Humans are not intrinsically honest. It's time to stop pretending they are.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Smells like FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm in the Healthcare industry and I'm working with a vendor who has said "We're not saying not to patch your device. We're saying that if you do, it will impact the speed at which we can resolve any issues that arise with it." Our doctors and staff here that and tell us not to patch it. That's crazy to me and I've heard from nearby hospitals that the same thing happens there.

  2. Re:DJ Kardio and the Beatskippers by tibit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about we don't put a network chip on a pacemaker, dumbasses.

    How about you don't take stupid fear-mongering from an inept "journalist" at face value? Pacemakers don't have a "network" chip or anything like that. They have a near-field communications system that can communicate with dedicated programming/data capture terminal. It makes little sense for any kind of ransomware on what amounts to a mostly offline device, where the owner doesn't have any means of accessing the data link or exposing it as an on-line node.

    --
    A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.