Researcher sees security issue with wireless insulin pumps, hackers could cause lethal doses

Thought the demonstration of a Subaru Outback (the official car of suburban weekend warriors) being unlocked and started via text message was terrifying? Wait till you see what researcher and diabetic Jay Radcliffe cooked up for the Black Hat Technical Security Conference. Radcliffe figures an attacker could hack an insulin pump connected to a wireless glucose monitor and deliver lethal doses of the sugar-regulating hormone. While perhaps less dramatic than shocking a person to death with their own pacemaker, quietly causing an insulin overdose is no less effective at bringing a life to a premature end. The most worrisome part, with a powerful enough antenna a hacker could potentially launch such an attack from up to half a mile away. Of course, Radcliffe hasn't figured out how to do it just yet, but his method of diabetic assassination could become a reality sometime soon -- sleep tight everybody!