New Pacemaker Can Access Internet
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Internet, Pacemaker, Wireless, Wi-Fi | Themes: The Internet, Business
Pacemakes with Wi-Fi support could save money for patients as well as save their lives.
So what gives? Why is Tom's posting news about a wireless pacemaker? After all, aren't those things made for old people? Not necessarily: kicking into first-person, I was born with a bad heart valve and required the use of a pacemaker after surgery in 2001 damaged my heart's electrical system. Naturally, news of a "wireless" pacemaker sounded a bit exciting. However, for patients hoping to shed those internal leads jabbing into beating muscle, this new device does nothing of the sort.
Current pacemakers sit just under the skin and use two leads to control the heart's electrical system. Specialists can take a circular wand--attached to a laptop with a monitoring program installed--place it above the embedded device, and basically take control of the heart, speeding up or slowing down the upper and lower chambers (which is annoying and a little freakish to say the least). The pacemaker also stores data that specialists can access through the wand as well.
Now it appears that a new model enables physicians to access that data across the Internet. According to Reuters, Carol Kasyjanski has become the first American recipient of the new St. Jude Medical device. If the pacemaker were to malfunction, the new technology could actually save her life by providing access to her doctor from anywhere.
"It is a tremendous convenience for the patient from even interacting with a telephone to call the doctor," said Dr. Steven Greenberg, the director of St. Francis' Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Center. "On a larger scale it enhances our ability to pick up and evaluate any problems with their pacemaker and certain other rhythm disorders that could be potentially dangerous or life threatening in ways we really could not do before."
Typical pacemaker checkups test the device's ability to control the chambers, and to relay recorded data from the last visit; checkups also monitor overall battery drainage. Wireless pacemakers could mean less visits to the specialist, and more money in the patient's pocket. Man, sounds like it's time for an upgrade!
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Wow, that is pretty intense. I was born with a bad valve (pulmonary stenosis) as well but do not have a pacemaker installed, yet. I am 28 years old and fear one day I will be suffering the same fate, so my condolences. Anyway, the only thing that freaks me out is the idea of some new cyber-murdering spree. Image some freak getting a hold of the software that connects to patients pacemakers and turning the damn thing off or something. Jesus. Anyway, seems pretty sweet though!
What if someone hacks it?
It's all fun and games until it becomes mandatory for everyone...
Everybody here should do some research on what the US govt will do to you if you refuse the flu vaccine in the event of a pandemic. Of course, they could have another "accident" and ship more vaccine that contains live flu, which then kills you when you would've otherwise survived the pandemic. Also research the homeless people in Poland that died from the vaccine...
But can it play... nevermind.
What if someone hacks it?
What this guy said.
Also wont the wifi drain the battery even quicker requiring more surgery for those born with or develop problems early?
Not trying to knock the tech, I think its awesome! Just pointing out the things the author neglected to ask.
cool idea!
but it makes me wonder what happens when/if the thing gets a virus off some hacker?
DDOS straight to my hear!
This can make for a deadly hack......
Yeah.. hacking is a bit of an issue here, especially with how easy Wi-Fi is to hack. Any Joe can hack Wi-Fi after a few minutes on Google, so think what seasoned hackers could do.
What if someone hacks it?
You'd have to be heatless to hack that.
What if someone hacks it?
it would give a whole new meaning to "heart attack". if i ever get a pacemaker, i would not want it to be wireless, a USB port maby, but not wireless.
Install a heartwall and u`ll be safe from atacks.
Beware of getting heartburn from the old firewall...
They have devices similar to pacemakers that act as defibrillators too. As they're wired up directly to the heart they can monitor it 24/7 and administer a shock when they detect dangerous rhythms. Sudden cardiac death from such rhythms can strike anyone anytime so i know a doc who (perhaps jokingly) suggested everyone should get one.
If I had a pacemaker that went online, i'd insist it ran linux and not even my doctor would know the root password.
Does it ping with every beat?
Catch spyware or a virus, and it's the end of you :-P
2048 bit hex encription anyone?
L2 not use unsacure hardware
yea, but can it play crysis?
No, it can't. Neither can you. Get over it.
Pacemaker porn!
But can it play... nevermind.
haha, always has to be mentioned at least once in every news article =P
dang, does this mean im gonna have to get a nice corprate firewall, inplanted in my chest as well to
. lol yea i was wondering the same thing what about deadly hacks botnets attacking you and such
Now we need something to put the brain online... I want to duplicate my brain information.
OK, this brings us one step closer to the 3 most dreaded words I can think of:
Windows for Wetware
How'd someone set up the wpa security (or whatever is employed), and make sure the device automaticly connects to the right internet link? the use of the word 'anywhere' from the doctor cited implies it is able to do so. And I can't help but to wonder what'd happen if a black hat would dislike you, and knows you use one of them...
Not to mention if it automatically finds wireless hot spots. Say goodbye to starbucks. Also seems like Kevin Parrish won't be able to attend Defcon or Blackhat this year. =)
At first I thought they were talking about the DJing media player, but they were actually talking about a real pacemaker. That thing would probably reduce battery life by half.
There is -no- possible way this can be abused
Right
This thing better use about 1 megabit encryption. You want something that will be uncrackable for your lifetime.
Keyfile with AES encryption. Maybe they will give you something to verify a connection to the device... similar to a keyfile, etc..
I'm waiting for a GPGPU-accelerated pacemaker-WiFi cracker to show up in my Linux package repository...
Brute force attack on the heart with a GPU accelerated application? Ouch.