IOActive researcher Barnaby Jack demonstrated how pacemakers could be hacked and reprogrammed to deliver deadly electric shocks from someone on a laptop up to 30 feet away, computer world report says.
Jack, in a speech at the BreakPoint security conference in Melbourne, said the flaw lies with the programming of the wireless transmitters used to give instructions to pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), which detect irregular heart contractions and deliver an electric shock to avert a heart attack.
A successful attack using the flaw "could definitely result in fatalities," said Jack, who has notified the manufacturers of the problem but did not publicly identify the companies.
In a video demonstration, Jack showed how he could remotely cause a pacemaker to suddenly deliver an 830-volt shock, which could be heard with a crisp audible pop.
He said such attacks were tantamount to “anonymous assassination”, and in a realistic but worse-case scenario, “mass murder”.
He said his goal was not to cause harm, but to help manufacturers secure their devices.
