A serious alarm has been raised over drug pumps in hundreds and thousands of hospitals all around the world being vulnerable to Hacking. An IT expert warned previously about this fact but was ignored until today when he proved that hackers cost remotely kill patients in hospital.
A security expert, Billy Rios earlier this year was found testing several pumps belonging to major drug pumps maker Hospira, which delivers devices to over 400,000 hospitals around the globe. He discovered that a hacker could remotely make the pump forget to warn the medical authority if they made a mistake while setting the dosage.
He kept digging and later discovered how hackers could remotely make changes to the firmware of a device and administer a fatal dosage at will.
Anyone can do this, and it’s just a matter of time before someone figures out how
,
Rios told.
These pumps are actually just computers, and so – just as you would take your laptop and join a wireless network, these pumps are on networks as well,
he added.
When he contacted the manufacturer to inform them about the problem, they simply denied that it could exist. In their view, this was justified by the communications module and circuit board being separate inside the device.
The company issued a statement to Mashable.Hospira says it’s now working with the FDA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to address the vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile, Rios is working on the Sapphire line of pumps to detect further security flaws.
The company, however, issued a statement to Mashable, which had also spoken to Rios. Hospira says it’s now working with the FDA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to address the vulnerabilities.
The company, however, issued a statement to Mashable, which had also spoken to Rios. Hospira says it’s now working with the FDA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to address the vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile, Rios is working on the Sapphire line of pumps to detect further security flaws.
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