Yes. According to Dan Koeffler of ABC World Nightly News (10/19/13), that was the premise behind the season finale of the TV series “Homeland,” which ended with the assassination of the series’ fictional Vice President when a hacker remotely accessed his pacemaker. Based on fears that something like that could happen, apparently doctors disabled the remote wireless access function on the pacemaker of then Vice President Dick Cheney when they implanted it to regulate his heartbeat. The message is that we should all take security concerns seriously: anyone could be at risk for medical device security breaches, even a Vice President.
And last year, our Houston medical implant injury attorneys mention that the U.S. GAO ordered the FDA to set higher standards for medical device security to greater protect patients’ health. While the FDA states that it’s not aware of any deaths or injuries caused by hackers yet among the medical device security vulnerabilities and malfunctions that have been reported, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. The government action was prompted in part, according to ABC, by the mysterious death of hacker Barnaby Jack after he came forward and claimed to have proof that medical devices could be hacked.
What are Some of the Threats to Medical Device Security?
In addition, our Houston medical implant injury attorneys note that Deloitte recently issued a report supporting the idea that medical devices could be compromised. The report called these potentially life-saving devices a double-edged sword that could also pose threats and cause unintended consequences to patient’s health. The devices could expose patients and healthcare organizations to safety and security risks.
The ubiquity of wireless and wired networked medical systems and devices brings a growing risk of computer security breaches. Compromised medical devices might also be used to attack not just individual patients, but other parts of a healthcare organization’s network. (Tom Sullivan, Government Health IT, 9/25/13) So the FDA was ordered to begin taking medical device security seriously. Potential threats include not just intentional attacks by hackers, but unencrypted data transfers that make the data vulnerable to alteration and manipulation, and other threat vectors.
Actual Security Problems found in Networked Medical Devices by the FDA
The FDA mentions that it has seen incidents of botched security, equipment manufacturers that basically ignore the need for updating or patching, security passwords freely handed around, and rampant malware in hospital medical devices that use unpatched operating systems. For instance, the Board Certified Houston medical implant injury attorneys at Denena Points, PC describe a frightening example where malware had infected and slowed down the fetal monitors being used in intensive care wards on women with high-risk pregnancies. (MIT Technology Review, National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Security and Privacy advisory Board)
But all sorts of critical healthcare devices, such as the compounders that prepare intravenous drugs and nutrients, picture-archiving systems used in diagnostics such as MRI machines, defibrillators, blood gas analyzers, insulin pumps, radiology devices, and nuclear medicine delivery systems could all be compromised. (Lisa Vaas, Naked Security, 6/17/13) Browse our website to learn more about the threats to medical device security and what it could mean for your health.