Why the study?
The potential for hacking of cardiac implantable electronic devices has become a burgeoning cybersecurity threat requiring guidance for patients, health care providers, manufacturers, professional societies, and government.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
This perspective from the ACC Electrophysiology Council clarifies that while cybersecurity vulnerabilities in cardiac implantable electronic devices exist, there have been no clinical reports of malicious hacking, and the low risk of firmware updates outweighs theoretical breach risks without necessitating elective device replacement or cessation of remote monitoring.
Medical devices have been targets of hacking for over a decade, and this cybersecurity issue has affected many types of medical devices. Lately, the potential for hacking of cardiac devices (pacemakers and defibrillators) claimed the attention of the media, patients, and health care providers. This is a burgeoning problem that our newly electronically connected world faces. In this paper from the Electrophysiology Section Council, we briefly discuss various aspects of this relatively new threat in light of recent incidents involving the potential for hacking of cardiac devices. We explore the possible risks for the patients and the effect of device reconfiguration in an attempt to thwart cybersecurity threats. We provide an outline of what can be done to improve cybersecurity from the standpoint of the manufacturer, government, professional societies, physician, and patient.
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Baranchuk et al. (2018) conducted a review in Patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs), including pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. CIED firmware updates and cybersecurity measures was evaluated. Cybersecurity firmware updates for Abbott CIEDs carry a low estimated risk of complete loss of function, loss of device settings, and update failure, with no clinical reports of malicious hacking to date.
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