Swiss specialists have issued a grave warning that cyber attackers could use hospital devices to commit murder. In an alarming new research from Zurich-based cybersecurity firm Scip AG, specialists showed how they were simply able to hijack medical devices in a major healthcare facility and exploit them remotely.
Png pacemakers, insulin pumps, and painkiller drips can all be automatically converted into twisted weapons of assassination.
“We could have overdosed patients with lethal amounts of drugs within minutes,” said Marc Ruef, head of research at Scip. “And we even hacked the monitors to fake the vital signs so no one would know it had happened.”
One expert admitted to hacking his own pain pump during a hospital stay, simply out of boredom. But the situation is far more serious, as perpetrators might not only silently kill victims in their beds, but they could also hide their tracks by showing completely normal health indicators. This isn't the first red flag either. A German university warned last year that pacemakers might be a 'perfect target for assassination.’
Johannes Rundfeldt, a cybersecurity expert and spokesperson for the independent expert organisation AG Kritis, claimed that this even applies to really powerful people, like world leaders, who may be subtly removed using a heart-hacking device.
“These can involve individual attacks on individuals: heads of state, generals, ministers, or similar individuals.How would we even prove it?...A sudden cardiac arrest wouldn't raise suspicion – and hackers leave no fingerprints,” Rundfeldt stated.
Cyber attacks have recently crippled entire hospitals, not simply devices. In January, cybercriminals took down a clinic in Lower Saxony, western Germany, and demanded a ransom to restore equipment. The first instance of a patient's death being specifically connected to a cyberattack occurred in 2020.
Prosecutors in Cologne stated that a female patient from Düsseldorf was set to receive critical care at Düsseldorf University Hospital in Germany when the September 9 attack disrupted systems. The ransomware attack struck the hospital at night, encrypting data and rendering computer systems inoperable. When Düsseldorf could no longer provide care, she was moved 30 kilometres away to another hospital for life-saving therapy.
Ciaran Martin, former CEO of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, stated at the time: "If confirmed, this tragedy would be the first known case of a death directly linked to a cyber-attack.”
“It is not surprising that the cause of this is a ransomware attack by criminals rather than an attack by a nation state or terrorists. Although the purpose of ransomware is to make money, it stops systems working. So if you attack a hospital, then things like this are likely to happen. There were a few near misses across Europe earlier in the year and this looks, sadly, like the worst might have come to pass.”