Published on 08/13/2008
And you thought that the iPhone 3G having a kill switch was bad - here we have news that pacemakers come with an integrated test mechanism which includes a bug that hackers can take advantage of to dire consequences. Since there is no cryptographic key utilized to secure the wireless communication between the control device and the pacemaker, those with the technical know how will be able to construct their own wireless device to control the pacemaker, including shutting it off remotely. Hopefully defense mechanisms can be retrofitted onto current pacemakers while new models take note of this exploit and close this door. The negative impact is frightening in the hands of someone malicious, to say the least.