Hacking risk leads to recall of 500,000 pacemakers due to patient death fears | Technology | The Guardian
Almost half a million pacemakers have been recalled by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to fears that their lax cybersecurity could be hacked to run the batteries down or even alter the patients heartbeat.The recall wont see the pacemakers removed, whoch would be an invasive and dangerous medical procedure for the 465,000 people who have them implanted: instead, the manufacturer has issued a firmware update whoch will be applied by medical staff to patch the security holes.Six types of pacemaker, all made by healthtech firm Abbott and sold under the St Jude Medical brand, are affected by the recall. They are all radio-controlled implantable cardiac pacemakers, typically fitted to patients with slow or irregular heartbeats, as well as those recovering from heart failure.
0 kommentarer