(H/T)
DHS has issued a security alert about a bunch of Medtronic wireless defibrillators/links/programmers. If you have a Medtronic wireless defibrillator, somebody who was seriously motivated could fuck you up, if they have the right equipment and can get within twenty feet of your link box.
Guess Lord Voldemort was not being paranoid.
Cyber security is not cheap; I can understand why the beancounters might fight paying for it. But the blowback in bad publicity isn't worth the risk. (See: Pinto; exploding)
The vulnerability is going to go on for awhile, as any changes to the programming for a medical device has to be chopped through the FDA. If you have one of the units, you may want to not travel with the link box. If you see someone lurking right up against your home with some tech equipment, you may want to call the po-po.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Thanks for this example of how good medicine can kill you. Another example?
People taking one of two variations of a commonly-used blood pressure medication, Losartan, and Losartan HCTZ, may have been ingested a fatal dose of cancer-causing chemicals. The Losartans are generics, but to increase their profits just about everybody distributing them, instead of producing the drug domestically, have turned to a Chinese manufacturer, that turned out various batches with cancer-causing impurities. (Well sure, it may kill you, but at least it's more profitable.)
You're supposed to check the batch number on your pill bottles and if it's the number of a known bad batch, turn it in for a non-poisonous batch. (Notices have been sent out by Walgreen's, and United Healthcare, probably among others.) Small problem: in many cases, the drugstore puts the pills in generic amber bottles without batch numbers. And if my own experience is any indication, the drug store, and certainly the Walgreen's-owned drug store I use, has no record of the batch my pills came from. Moreover, I have no idea how much if this crap I may have swallowed in the past.
The pharmacist offered to swap out my unknown batch pills for some that are known safe. But United Healthcare, my AARP insurer, said no dice. If I don't have the batch number for the pills I'm taking, they're not paying for or allowing a substitute. If I don't like it, I can just drop dead of cancer. Thanks for nothing, United Health Care.
Yours very crankily,
The New York Crank
Seems a bit overblown to me. Yeah, sure, it's vulnerability and we should get better about covering those but in this case it also seems like an awful lot of work to hurt/kill someone.
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to shoot/stab/poison them? Or if you want to be technological and less detectable just mess with their car.
But yes, if you see someone lurking right up against your home calling the police is probably a good idea. Regardless of whether they have tech equipment and you have an implant.
Yeah, the idea that someone could get close enough to Voldemort's bedroom to fuck with the link is really a stretch, unless his SS detail was completely asleep.
It's a lot of work, true. But if you had a need to whack someone and you wanted to try to make it hard to detect, it would be better than shooting them. Then you could be home in your lair, cackling with glee and dry-washing your hands as the implanted unit killed him.
Just charming!
Not a good thing at all.
Eck!
https://youtu.be/AKd2YldRvB8
Should have installed a heart plug in him. Although, the baron is a lot more of a match to Cheney than the poor flowerboy.
Post a Comment