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posted by mrpg on Saturday December 03 2016, @03:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the hacked-in-a-heartbeat dept.

A global research team has hacked 10 different types of implantable medical devices and pacemakers finding exploits that could allow wireless remote attackers to kill victims.

Eduard Marin and Dave Singelée, researchers with KU Leuven University, Belgium, began examining the pacemakers under black box testing conditions in which they had no prior knowledge or special access to the devices, and used commercial off-the-shelf equipment to break the proprietary communications protocols.

From the position of blind attackers the pair managed to hack pacemakers from up to five metres away gaining the ability to deliver fatal shocks and turn off life-saving treatment.

The wireless attacks could also breach patient privacy, reading device information disclosing location history, treatments, and current state of health.

[...] "Using this black-box approach we just listened to the wireless communication channel and reverse-engineered the proprietary communication protocol. And once we knew all the zeros and ones in the message and their meaning, we could impersonate genuine readers and perform replay attacks etcetera."


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 03 2016, @04:12PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday December 03 2016, @04:12PM (#436542) Homepage

    Notably, Dick "Darth Vader" Cheney had high-profile issues [sophos.com] with potential threats to his pacemaker.

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  • (Score: 2) by Dunbal on Saturday December 03 2016, @05:48PM

    by Dunbal (3515) on Saturday December 03 2016, @05:48PM (#436569)

    The wireless is disabled by default. You have to enable it. This is per my experience as a physician and per TFA. So the Cheney story was probably just attention-seeking which is all well and good because secure devices are not a bad idea, but not exactly the truth either.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:48AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:48AM (#436729)

      Wow, a physician.

      Hey listen, doc. I got this weird itch...

    • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:58AM

      by Snotnose (1623) on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:58AM (#436734)

      If it's disabled by default how do you enable it? Get the pulse rate up to 120, down to 90, up to 100, within 5 minutes?

      --
      Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
      • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Sunday December 04 2016, @08:05AM

        by davester666 (155) on Sunday December 04 2016, @08:05AM (#436820)

        You have to hit it with a defibrillator to flip the switch.

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday December 04 2016, @06:15AM

      by anubi (2828) on Sunday December 04 2016, @06:15AM (#436794) Journal

      Seems like something like an induction-coil coupler would be appropriate, so one would have to have the communication coil right over the skin under which the other coil resides.

      If one has intent to do another in, its probably gonna happen anyway... whether it be done by clever technical means, chemical means, or physical means.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]