IT GIVES new meaning to the term 鈥渉eart attack鈥�. Last week researchers led by William Maisel at Harvard University used a commercially available radio transmitter to hijack the software on a device that acts as both a heart pacemaker and defibrillator.
The device was not implanted in anyone, but raises the prospect of hackers being able to disrupt a person鈥檚 heartbeat or stealthily administer damaging shocks.
Is the threat of a hacker-instigated heart attack imminent? 鈥淭he chances of someone being harmed by malicious reprogramming of their device is remote,鈥� says Maisel. However, implanted drug pumps and neurostimulators, which deliver electrical pulses to the brain, could be more vulnerable to such attacks in future as they increasingly have wireless capabilities built in.
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