Drug Pump’s Security Flaws Lets Hackers Raise Dose Limits

Health data hacked, hospital system bugged… A lot of news are emerging every day about breaches into the safety and security of electronic medical devices.

In this article written by Kim Zetter in Wired, it is explained that drug infusion pumps could be controlled by anybody anywhere. “Hospira systems don’t use authentication for their internal drug libraries, which help set upper and lower boundaries for the dosages of various intravenous drugs that a pump can safely administer. As a result, anyone on the hospital’s network—including a patient in the hospital or a hacker accessing the pumps over the internet—can load a new drug library to the pumps that alters the limits, thereby potentially allowing the delivery of a deadly dosage.”

Awareness should be raised inside and outside the hospital but, more importantly, in the medical technology industry. They should hire experts in security as well as former hackers to make their devices safe enough to be used in any setting worldwide.

Wired Article

Image Source