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Heart Device Hacked to Prove Point

Eric Bland, Discovery News

Photos

Secrets Safe?

March 27, 2008 -- Scientists from three universities recently hacked into an implantable biomedical device through a wireless connection, stole information about a hypothetical patient's health and personal history and changed the cardiac defibrillator's settings.

Had the patient been real, he could have been killed.

The researchers say it was the first time anyone has hacked into a biomedical device.

"We were able to show how to retrieve and program info from the device," said Kevin Fu, a study author from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "The ramifications of this are still being worked out."

The scientists used an implantable cardiac defibrillator that can either send small bursts of electricity to ensure a regular heart beat or large amounts if the wearer experiences a heart attack.

Wireless technology was originally added to the device to allow physicians to check and reprogram the device without resorting to surgery. But could it put patients at risk?

Don't start worrying about wireless assassination just yet, say the researchers who conducted the test.