Hackers Could Access Medical Equipment
A hacker’s reach no longer ends at computers and cellphones. Now, they can access medical devices as well.
Jay Radcliffe, a diabetic and cybersecurity expert, was curious to see if he could hack into his own equipment — so he did. As a result, he revealed the possibility that hackers could break into medical devices by reverse-engineering the wireless communications and gain control.
During his keynote speech today at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas, Radcliffe explained he had remotely hacked into his own electronic insulin pump and discovered the vulnerabilities of his equipment.
“As a diabetic, I have two devices attached to me at all times; an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor,” he said. “This combination of devices turns me into a human SCADA system; in fact, much of the hardware used in these devices are also used in industrial SCADA equipment.”
“I was inspired to attempt to hack these medical devices after a presentation on hardware hacking at DEF CON in 2009,” he added. “Both of the systems have proprietary wireless communication methods.
According to Radcliffe, an attacker could intercept wireless signals and then broadcast a stronger signal to obtain control over the device.
“My initial reaction was that this was really cool from a technical perspective,” Radcliffe told The Associated Press. “The second reaction was one of maybe sheer terror, to know that there’s no security around the devices which are a very active part of keeping me alive.”
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