Top Medical Device Security Threats: Deloitte

Hacktivists. Anonymous hackers have already launched DDoS attacked on banks. Although hackers haven't attempted to cause a service interruption related to medical devices yet, they may in the future, according to the Deloitte report. 
 

Thieves. Thieves could attack medical devices to harvest personal information for identify theft or to commit fraud against healthcare organizations or Medicare. They also could sell personal health information. 
 

Virtual Assailants. Individuals or groups could hack medical devices to remotely attack individual patients. This scenario was depicted in a Homeland episode, in which the U.S. vice president was assassinated by terrorists who compromised his pacemaker. Such attacks could be potentially detected by keeping tabs on devices' power consumption. The idea is that a medical device with hacked code would translate into altered power consumption. Researchers have devised a system called "WattsUpDoc" that could track such fluctuations to identify device hacking. 
 

Malware. Unlike the previous three threats, which are very real possibilities, malware on medical devices is already a problem. The medical device industry has not been as aggressive in preventing malware attacks as the broader tech industry. And last year, Google shut down the website of device company CareFusion Inc. after the site sent updates to the firm's respiratory products that contained Trojan horse viruses and malware. Last year, Gizmodo ran a story stating that malware was rampant on medical devices and earlier this year, FDA acknowledged its threat as well.