This is such a load of crap. Hard to believe anyone would write it. A pace maker has to have a wand placed over the patients device before a computer can be used to change anything. I can just see hackers trying to chase someone down in order to put the wand on them plus you have to know what type of pace maker someone has in order to have the correct software to use. The biggest thing though is that pace makers can’t be hacked into as you would a computer, this is, once again, such a load of crap.
I wish it were a load of crap... For over a decade I was was a technical fellow/senior staff scientist at the company in question. One of my responsibilities was systems engineering on the AICD and dual-chamber pacing products.
I’ve just no reviewed the full pre-print of “Pacemakers and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators:Software Radio Attacks and Zero-Power Defenses” by Jalperin et al, available as a download at http://www.secure-medicine.org/
In Section IV (pages 8-10) authors claim they were able to maintain transmissions, and initiate triggered stimuli and reprogram parameters and change stored data with no magnetic field present.
It seems to me that our old safeguards for battery longevity and also for security have been negated...
I suspect the young engineers or outside consultants have lost track of the reasons why things were done, and are too lazy to use state diagrams to keep track of the firmware specifications.
You've obviously never conducted emissions and susceptibility testing on an implantable cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator.
A pace maker(sic) has to have a wand(sic) placed over the patients device before a computer can be used to change anything.
First of all, pacemaker is one word. Second, an electromagnetic coil is placed over the implantable device. The coil can either be integral to the programmer or external to the programmer. The reason why the coil is placed directly over the implanted device is because the radiated signal from both the programmer and the implanted device is relatively weak; moreso for the implanted device than the programmer. Therefore, in order to achieve the coupling required for successful interrogation/reprogramming/confirmation the two must be in close proximity to one another. However, if the programmer/interrogator has adequate radiated power the distance that reprogramming can occur from can be much greater.
The biggest thing though is that pace makers,(sic) can’t be hacked into as you would a computer
Guess again.