The day before 60 Minutes aired Dick Cheney’s segment with Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a clip showing his Homeland-like concern over assassination by wireless medical device, Medtronic (MDT) released a statement reiterating its dedication to maintaining the security of its devices. The timing of such a statement–right after a promotion of a former vice president saying one of Homeland‘s most shocking plot lines could pose a real threat–seems worth noting. “The security risk specifically for implantable cardiac devices is low, because of the communications used with these devices,” the release states.
Why?
For one type of communication, the potential hacker-assassin would need to be in very close proximity to the patient (though on Homeland, that’s exactly what happens. . . ) “For many wireless devices, someone attempting to manipulate a device would need to be in very close physical proximity to the patient and therefore would likely be seen by the patient or the patient’s caregivers.” The statement goes on to call this kind of scenario “unrealistic.”
And if at a distance, the hacker would need to be hyper-aware of the device’s settings:
For wireless devices which allow for communication from a longer distance, the means to communicate is enabled only when needed to provide treatment to the patient or to monitor the patient’s condition. So, the potential time period during which an implantable cardiac device could be breached is quite brief and variable. This means an attacker would need to be constantly attentive to when a device might be enabled, which is unlikely.
These two statements don’t exactly set this reporter at ease. Aren’t malicious acts usually far-fetched and far-reaching?
The company goes on to stress its constant striving for higher security and indebtedness to academics for the “continued contributions. . . toward the advancement of implantable medical device security and patient safety. We welcome the opportunity to work with security experts, government regulators and other stakeholders to make devices as secure as possible.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
