465K People With Pacemakers Need Security Update

Is it a recall? Is it a software update? Well, it's actually both. Abbott, the medical device company that produces implantable cardiac pacemakers under the St. Jude’s Medical brand, has issued a "corrective action," per the Food and Drug Administration, to mitigate what it calls the "risk of patient harm due to potential exploitation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities." 

That's right, it's asking 465,000 people with certain devices to visit their doctors and get a firmware update so that their implants are not so easy to hack into. They say patients should schedule a visit with their doctor, and that the process will take three minutes start to finish, during which time all essential features will run in backup mode, reports Consumerist. It's unclear how many people in other countries are affected.

Read the full story on Newser.com

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