OF2-03/12/08 7:25 AM
HACKING HEART DEVICES.
The Osgood File. I'm Charles Osgood.
Some of the new heart defibrillators use a wireless monitoring technology that sends data to the doctor. But a new study at he University of Washington suggests that some jerk with a laptop could hack into one of these devices. not only violating the patients privacy.but conceivably even killing him.
Co-author of the study, UW computer science and engineering professor Tadayoshi Kohno.
SOT - Prof. Tadayoshi Kohno, University of Washington
"A malicious person might be able to modify the therapy settings and control when or how it delivers electrical shocks --- and also potentially run down the battery."
It's remarkable what some of these new implanted devices can do.
SOT - Prof. Tadayoshi Kohno
"They're becoming more sophisticated and more powerful, and including longer-range wireless communication capabilities. And one of the things we know about technology is that when it advances, new security and privacy risks may arise."
That's why Tadayoshi Kohno and his colleagues did their study.
SOT - Prof. Tadayoshi Kohno
"We found that using our own hardware --- our own antenna, radio and our own PC --- we were able to modify the therapy settings on these implantable defibrillators --- and that might actually change the settings of these devices, so that they don't respond appropriately to certain heart arrhythmias and whatnot."
Not that this has actually happened, mind you.
SOT - Prof. Tadayoshi Kohno
"The risk to patients is extremely small. We are unaware of any situation where any patient has had their implantable device modified or accessed or tampered with by any malicious parties."
Yale School of Medicine's Dr. Joseph Brennan.
SOT - Dr. Joseph Brennan, Yale School of Medicine
"Do not be frightened by these early reports. And hopefully, both industry and regulators will approach this with zeal."
The Osgood File. Transcripts, Mp3s and podcasts of these programs are available at theosgoodfile.com. I'm Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
The Osgood File. March 12th, 2008. |
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