McAfee hacker says medtronic insulin pumps vulnerable to attack

April 11, 2012 | Source: Bloomberg
medtronic

Insulin pump (credit: Medtronic)

Some Medtronic insulin pumps are vulnerable to a hacking attack that could let someone break into the devices from 300 feet away, disable security alarms, acquire the serial number, and force them to dispense fatal insulin doses directly into diabetics’ bloodstreams, according to McAfee Inc. computer-security researcher Barnaby Jack.

Research from a consortium of academics in 2008 found that a popular pacemaker-defibrillator product could also be remotely reprogrammed to deliver deadly shocks.