How safe are pacemakers from hacking? Have all possible security breaches been fixed?

[Stumpy47]

Pacemaker scheduled for 27th Sept I'm concerned about software vilnerability

[NorthantsSteve]

Hi Stumpy47. I haven’t had a pacemaker fitted so can’t speak from personal experience or any kind of knowledge. But it’s an interesting question and I’m sure someone will be a long soon with an answer. I thought this article was interesting. It seems that there still may be vulnerabilities but it has never happened. In order to do anything you’d have to be within Bluetooth range of a potential hacker and only when the pacemaker was transmitting and receiving data. The likelihood of that happening seems really small to me. google.co.uk/amp/s/www.howt...

[Stumpy47 in reply to NorthantsSteve]

I'm still awaiting a reply from Medtronic UK , appears they don't seem the question is worthy of a quick response!!!!

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

I first heard about hacking in respect to insulin pumps. Because of the type of insulin I am on I cannot be considered for one. I would suggest finding out the model of pacemaker they are fitting and contacting the manufacturers. Google would probably find a load of misinformation in its usual way!

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

There are vulnerabilities in most medical devices, the industry is some way behind the curve on this and is playing catch up/

Having said that I'd question what would be the incentive to hack say my ICD. If hackers broke into a server they could disable it and demand a ransom before giving control back to the owner. While that is a criminal offense, hacking my ICD for ransom would be criminal at a higher level - possibly endangering life. The reward they could extract from me would be vastly different from what they might attempt to get from a company.

I think hackers have much better targets to go after, I'd be more worried about the fact that the NHS is still running Windows XP on a number of platforms well after Microsoft withdrew all support for it.

theinquirer.net/inquirer/ne...

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

I do not remember the details but around a year ago a number of hospitals had to make appointments on paper and were unable to access your records. Many years ago I crashed a cash point and it rebooted in Windows NT when Vista had already come out. Scary!

[Stumpy47 in reply to MichaelJH]

Are pacemaker manufacturers own websites & software secure?

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to Stumpy47]

I honestly have not idea. About a decade ago a security company exposed vulnerabilities in Medtronic's software so that hackers could administer or withhold shocks! No idea about current status but most large organisations do not reveal if they have been hacked if no external damage is done!

[BibbyA]

Oh eck, I've never thought of my pacemaker being hacked before,...well if they asked me for a ransom I would have to ask if they could give me the change from a 10 Bob note....joking aside it's a scary prospect, and I hope there's no potential Crim's on here who think 'thats a good idea' 🙁

[NorthantsSteve]

I believe Dick Cheney had the WiFi disabled. Maybe we have some high value politicians on this forum hiding behind their pseudonyms?

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to NorthantsSteve]

Is there a BoJo in the house? 😁 They could always sit in. Faraday cage! 😎

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to NorthantsSteve]

His heart history is staggering! Have a read of this:

newsarchive.heart.org/dick-...

[NorthantsSteve in reply to MichaelJH]

Phew. He’s had the lot!

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to NorthantsSteve]

He does seem to try and keep up with medical advances in cardiolgy!

[Stumpy47 in reply to MichaelJH]

He must be mad I'd definitely be retired to a log cabin right next to a heart hospital & do nowt but fish & cook em on a bbq !!