Researchers: Implanted Medical Devices Open to Hack Attacks

A common new technology for monitoring defibrillators is vulnerable to hacking and even to reprogramming that could stop the devices from delivering a lifesaving shock, according to research to be released Wednesday. In the past couple years, more than 100,000 patients in the U.S. alone have been implanted with newer devices that reduce medical visits by sending information on a patient to a bedside monitor that then sends the data to a doctor, usually once a day. In the model researchers studied, transmissions from the defibrillator to the bedside monitor are not encrypted.