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MowCowWhoHow III

(2,103 posts) Tue Oct 4, 2016, 10:36 AM Oct 2016

Exclusive: J&J warns diabetic patients - Insulin pump vulnerable to hacking

Source: Reuters

Johnson & Johnson is telling patients that it has learned of a security vulnerability in one of its insulin pumps that a hacker could exploit to overdose diabetic patients with insulin, though it describes the risk as low.

Medical device experts said they believe it was the first time a manufacturer had issued such a warning to patients about a cyber vulnerability, a hot topic in the industry following revelations last month about possible bugs in pacemakers and defibrillators.

J&J executives told Reuters they knew of no examples of attempted hacking attacks on the device, the J&J Animas OneTouch Ping insulin pump. The company is nonetheless warning customers and providing advice on how to fix the problem.

"The probability of unauthorized access to the OneTouch Ping system is extremely low," the company said in letters sent on Monday to doctors and about 114,000 patients who use the device in the United States and Canada.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-cyber-insulin-pumps-e-idUSKCN12411L?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social

4 replies

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Exclusive: J&J warns diabetic patients - Insulin pump vulnerable to hacking (Original Post) MowCowWhoHow III Oct 2016 OP

Hacking an insulin pump? underpants Oct 2016 #1

Lessons for the Future of Primary Care from Robin Cook’s Cell proverbialwisdom Oct 2016 #4

It's also prone to flatout breakdowns Patiod Oct 2016 #2

Wireless pump control is a bad idea, monitoring is ok but not control DustyJoe Oct 2016 #3

underpants

(182,911 posts)

1. Hacking an insulin pump?

Reply to MowCowWhoHow III (Original post)

Tue Oct 4, 2016, 10:51 AM

Oct 2016

Really?

proverbialwisdom

(4,959 posts)

4. Lessons for the Future of Primary Care from Robin Cook’s Cell

Reply to underpants (Reply #1)

Tue Oct 4, 2016, 04:23 PM

Oct 2016

http://www.bioethics.net/2014/05/lessons-for-the-future-of-primary-care-from-robin-cooks-cell/

05/01/2014
Lessons for the Future of Primary Care from Robin Cook’s Cell

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

I just finished reading the popular fiction novel Cell by Robin Cook. This medical thriller revolves around George Wilson, a radiology resident who finds people dying suddenly after receiving diagnoses of terminal illnesses including his fiancé and next-door-neighbor. The catch is that all of these people were beta testers for a new mobile app called iDoc. A technology company developed this program to be a personal primary care physician. iDoc can answer all of your health questions, monitor your vital signs, and even give you a dose of insulin through an implantable reservoir. It is the ultimate in individualized care available 24/7. The app can even examine a blood or saliva sample if you place it on the phone screen. The camera can help with imaging studies. The book states that not only will this revolutionize medicine, it will make a lot of money for the company that owns iDoc.

I am not here to review the book as literature. However, the book raises a number of issues that are important for the future of health and medical care in our society.

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Patiod

(11,816 posts)

2. It's also prone to flatout breakdowns

Reply to MowCowWhoHow III (Original post)

Tue Oct 4, 2016, 10:57 AM

Oct 2016

My one girlfriend THOUGHT she was getting insulin - the pump said she was, and yet her blood sugar was off the charts. She called sick into work, and thanks to a quick-thinking colleague, (who called an ambulance for her) and 3 days in the hospital, she was okay. But all of those spikes do their damage to the organs.

Her doctor said to never assume the pump was actually doing what it says it's doing. Which kind of destroys the whole point, doesn't it?

DustyJoe

(849 posts)

3. Wireless pump control is a bad idea, monitoring is ok but not control

Reply to MowCowWhoHow III (Original post)

Tue Oct 4, 2016, 11:03 AM

Oct 2016

My grandaughters pump gets its glucose readings wirelessly from her glucose tester and a continous glucose monitor that wirelessly transmits readings to the pump. I am unaware of any wireless controls to actually administer a bolus of insulin. If a bluetooth type pump could get hacked though, a huge bolus of insulin would have the diabetic victim in a coma and/or dead very fast, like less than an hour as most pump insulins start working hard in about 15-30 minutes. This would be outright murder.

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