Medical devices at risk of cyber attacks say FBI

The FBI has issued two warnings that health care systems and medical devices are facing an increased risk of cyberattacks.

Medical devices that use a wireless connection such as pacemakers, defibrillators, monitors and insulin
pumps, as well as automated drug distribution systems that are implanted in bodies are considered to be the most at risk.

The notice issued by the FBI claims private health data is more vulnerable on the black market than some financial information and remains high on criminal marketplaces.

It added cyber intrusions of health care systems are more likely to occur over financial and retail sectors, as the industry is not prepared enough to combat against criminals’ basic cyber intrusion tactics.

According to an interview in magazine Wired: “It’s insanely easy to hack hospital equipment.”

One of the main problems they involves the embedded web services that allow devices to communicate with one another and feed data directly to patients' electronic medical records.

“Many hospitals are unaware of the high risk associated with these devices,” added Wired.

The FBI’s warning comes not long after Boston children’s hospital was subject to cyber attacks, hacker group Anonymous called upon internet activists to bombard the hospital with a flood of internet traffic to disrupt online services.

This same type of attack has been known to knock out medical devices.

According to the BBC professor Kevin Fu: My worry is that we will learn about how to protect these systems only after an incident occurs.

I would much rather see these problems addressed before there is such an incident,” he added.

However, according to BBC news, the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had never received any reports of medical implants being hacked.

"We closely monitor the safety and performance of all medical devices and take action to ensure the safety of patients," concluded an MHRA spokesman.