Diabetic Who Hacked His Own Insulin Pump Shares Findings At Conference.

Diabetic Who Hacked His Own Insulin Pump Shares Findings At Conference.

The AP (8/11, Robertson) reports that "a security researcher who is diabetic has identified flaws that could allow an attacker to remotely control insulin pumps and alter the readouts of blood-sugar monitors," leaving diabetics vulnerable to receiving inaccurate dosing of insulin. Diabetic Jay Radcliffe used his own equipment for the experiment and "shared his findings with The Associated Press before releasing them Thursday at the Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas." The AP points out that "the hacking fears come on top of human errors and technical glitches tied to medical devices. The US Food and Drug Administration has identified software and design errors as critical concerns in investigating hundreds of deaths potentially linked to drug pumps." The FDA also has warned "device makers that they are responsible for making sure they can update equipment after it's sold."