Homicide by a Medical Device?

Sir … can we open you up, as we need to apply a software patch to your pacemaker?

Okay. It is a script of a Hollywood movie. A hacker finds a vulnerability in every pacemaker ever produced and has managed to install ransomware on each of them.

He now tells the world that the US Government has two hours to pay 1,000 Bitcoins, or he will trigger the ransomware to stop every pacemaker. Before he does this, he gives all the pacemakers a “jolt” to show his power.

Then, within an action-packed, and tense, 60 minutes, we see a crack cyber team tracing his messages through blog posts and social media activity, and then storm into his Chicago apartment, and disconnect his computer, just as he is about to press a big red button on his desk.

The world has been saved! Families over the world hug each other, and the crack Cyberteam are “high-fived” as they exit the building.

Fiction or possible fact?

The not-so-secure devices

If you are in an industry where a fault can cause serious injury or death, you need to have…