Insulin Pump Security Flaws Could Be Used to Set off Hypoglycemic Reactions
Medical device manufacturer Animas, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is warning diabetic patients who use its OneTouch Ping insulin pumps about security issues that could allow hackers to deliver unauthorized doses of insulin.
The vulnerabilities were discovered by Jay Radcliffe, a security researcher at Rapid7 who is a Type I diabetic and user of the pump. The flaws primarily stem from a lack of encryption in the communication between the device's two parts: the insulin pump itself and the meter-remote that monitors blood sugar levels and remotely tells the pump how much insulin to administer.
The pump and the meter use a proprietary wireless management protocol through radio frequency communications that are not encrypted. This exposes the system to several attacks. First, passive attackers can snoop on the traffic and read the blood glucose results and insulin dosage data. Then, they can trivially spoof the meter to the pump because the key used to pair the two devices is transmitted in clear text.
