DATA, the Adapting of a New Currency

Todd Gifford, MBA      6/13/2012     tgifford@ermconsultinginc.com

“US warns of cyber-attacks on medical devices”

A man uses a robot to practice surgery in Melle on April 15, 2013. US authorities on Thursday warned makers of medical devices and hospital networks to step up efforts to guard against potential cyber attacks.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/13/u-s-warns-of-cyber-attacks-on-medical-devices/

Can you imagine the next episode of Criminal Minds you encounter, experiencing the plot twist of the often overlooked, angry underling rising up to reach out and commit murder by causing the wireless malfunction of the CEO’s perfectly working internal cardiac device” internal defibulator”.It would prove disarming if a medical device could be manipulated to cease performing it’s incredibly important function being turned into an instrument of murder. The malfeasant would soon be caught by the electronic foot print, for this I am sure but the possibility is frightening none the less in light of the world in which we live .

I am comfortable with the math of Big Data, two plus two can equal 3.9 or 4.1.  We accept these parameters not because we rely on big data for the sole factor in our decision making but as reinforcement for our collective theories toward improvement.

I find it unnerving that Target a massive retailer can send correspondence to a man that causes strong anger and resentment due to the giant retailer sending a congratulations on being pregnant to his home targeting “no pun intended” his teenage daughter barely out of Jr. High ,not even 16 years old yet for Heaven’s Sake . The much upset father called the corporate office and complained at length about the mistake.                                    

He felt all the worst when he had to pick up the phone and call the individual he reamed and apologized because it seems his young daughter was indeed pregnant. Kindly explain how Target can know more about a Fathers Household than the Patriarch himself. How do they have the ability to know so much about us? Data mining big data is the easy answer.

To truly understand the scope is beyond my humble mind , but it does make for a genuinely Scary Story.

AFP - US authorities on Thursday warned makers of medical devices and hospital networks to step up efforts to guard against potential cyber attacks.

The US Food and Drug Administration said implanted devices, which could include pacemakers or defibrillators, could be connected to networks that are vulnerable to hackers.

An FDA warning notice was sent to medical device manufacturers, hospitals, medical device user facilities, health care technical staff and biomedical engineers.

It said the agency has recently "become aware of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents that could directly impact medical devices or hospital network operations."

"The FDA is recommending that medical device manufacturers and health care facilities take steps to assure that appropriate safeguards are in place to reduce the risk of failure due to cyberattack," the warning said.

These devices or systems could be compromised "by the introduction of malware into the medical equipment or unauthorized access to configuration settings in medical devices and hospital networks," the FDA said.

"This may sound like it is out of a science fiction movie, but the threat is conceivably a serious one," said Jon Ogg at 24/7 Wall Street.

"Can you imagine a device being retooled maliciously, like an inserted pacemaker/defibrillator? Or imagine if a robotic surgery system was maliciously recalibrated in even a slight manner for surgeries.

"The list of threats is endless."

The FDA said it was "not aware of any patient injuries or deaths associated with these incidents" nor does it have any specific information on targeted devices.

The FDA said it had been working with other federal agencies as well as manufacturers, which it said are "responsible for remaining vigilant about identifying risks and hazards associated with their medical devices."

Among the measures that should be taken, the FDA said, are limiting unauthorized device access, "particularly for those devices that are life-sustaining or could be directly connected to hospital networks."