Federal rules leave medical equipment virus-infected

Over 300 critically important medical devices were connected to the Internet, infected with the Conficker virus, and then could not be fixed for 90 days because of federal regulations.

The medical devices in question were used in hospitals to allow doctors to view and manipulate high-intensity scans like MRIs. They were often found in intensive care facilities, and were connected to local area networks along with other critical medical devices. These network connections exposed the medical devices to the Internet, from which they became infected with the Conficker virus.

This came out in the testimony of Rodney Joffe, a founder of the unofficial Conficker Working Group, before a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Joffe and another member of the working group discovered over 300 devices from a single manufacturer that had been infected with the virus, according to a CNET story. Joffe said, “They should have never, ever been connected to the Internet.”