Doctors Warn Of The Dangers Of Computer Viruses For Implantable Devices

Doctors Warn Of The Dangers Of Computer Viruses For Implantable Devices.
Implantable devices, such as pacemakers, defibrillators and cochlear implants, are suitable sensitive to "infection" with computer viruses, a researcher in England warns as explained here. To make good his point, Mark Gasson, a scientist at the University of Reading's School of Systems Engineering, allowed himself to become "Exhibit A".

Gasson said he became the head soul in the everybody to be infected with a computer virus after he "contaminated" a high-end boom box frequency identity card (RFID) computer piece - the kind often used as a security baptize in stores to prevent theft - which he had implanted into his left hand. The thrust was to draw attention to the risks involved with the use of increasingly subtle implantable medical device technology.

And "Our scrutinization shows that implantable technology has developed to the point where implants are efficient of communicating, storing and manipulating data," he said in a university newsflash release. "They are essentially mini computers. This means that, match mainstream computers, they can be infected by viruses and the technology will requirement to keep pace with this so that implants, including medical devices, can be safely occupied in the future".