The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
A handful of government bodies are asking federal regulators to establish medical device software security protocols as part of the FDA’s regular review of medical devices.
The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security joined the Information Security & Privacy Advisory Board of the National Institute of Standards & Technology in calling for heightened review of medical devices, citing security weaknesses that may leave them vulnerable to "malicious tampering."
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A modern insulin pump can be hacked from 300 feet away and told to deliver a lethal dose of insulin, a hacker and researcher for computer security giant McAfee proved.
Using a laptop and a custom-made antennae, Barnaby Jack’s software broke through the insulin pump’s security and altered its program to dump its contents, injected a potentially lethal dose of the hormone into a dummy pancreas used for demonstration purposes.
At least one Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) insulin pump has software vulnerabilities that could make it a target for malicious hacks and other models may also be at risk, according to software security giant McAfee.
The McAfee team developed code that allowed it to take over the insulin pump, altering its programming and even administering potentially lethal doses from as much as 300 feet away.
