Medical Devices & the implications of security holes.

[C0DEM0NKEY]

Just recently stumbled upon this website

http://m.healthcareitnews.com/news/threat-matrix-malware-and-hacking-pose-dangers-medical-devices

I am well aware of the existance of many places other than Hosiptals that use woefully out of date computers with horribly out of date operating systems that also have internet connected devices interacting with them without any thought about potential security threats.

You would think companies would be concerned enough to update their security but you'd be wrong a lot of companies not only do they ignore potential security issues. They are often hogtied by warranties & contracts that don't allow them to update their computer systems without a 3rd party involved.

I am actually not suprised hospitals has never been security concious even though they sometimes purport themselves to be. At least when it comes to their computer systems they are quite dilligent otherwise. Which is a good thing but I just wish they put more thought into securing their computers and internet connected devices; such as the new smart pacemakers, insulin pumps, and monitors.

I was also thinking this might make an interesting show topic.

[digininja]

My daughter spent her first 6 months in intensive care and each room she was in had a PC for records and other work stuff. One night I saw a nurse browsing facebook on it. That really shocked me.

[C0DEM0NKEY]

Yes and very little attention is given to security concerns these days.

The article mentions that these systems haven't yet been purposely targeted like,

what happens in the fictional universes of a Tv show or a Movie.

It does however raise several questions; that, I feel would really benefit from the Hak5 treatment.

I know my Aunt currently has an Insulin pump & Id be pretty po'ed if she died

because of practically non-existant security software & patches on a hospital computer

that controls said pump. Even though this issue is deemed small potatoes now.

It may very well spell disaster in the future, if; nothing is done about it.

Which is why I felt the need to post about it.

Also another reason I posted was to see if other people were interested in getting Hak5

to make an episode off a user suggested topic.

Edited October 11, 2013 by C0DEM0NKEY