Abbott's St. Jude Patches Device Software After Regulators Confirm Weaknesses
January 09 2017 - 5:33PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
Abbott Laboratories' St. Jude Medical has released a security
patch for some of its medical devices after U.S. health regulators
found hackers might be able to gain access.
The Food and Drug Administration found that criminals could
potentially remotely access a patient's implanted cardiac device
and drain the battery or deliver inappropriate pacing or
shocks.
The FDA said there haven't been any reports of patient harm
related to the cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Monday's security update requires additional validation and
verification of remotely-monitored pacemakers and defibrillators,
St. Jude said.
The Minnesota-based company is working with the FDA and the
Department of Homeland Security Industrial Control Systems Cyber
Emergency Response Team on additional updates to address other
security issues. No details were given on those
vulnerabilities.
St. Jude, which merged last week with Abbott, had previously
denied the remote monitoring system used with implanted pacemakers
and defibrillators could be hacked and sued research firm Muddy
Waters Capital LLC and cybersecurity startup MedSec.
"This long-overdue acknowledgement...reaffirms our belief that
had we not gone public, St. Jude would not have remediated the
vulnerabilities, " Muddy Waters Capital founder Carson Block said
in a prepared statement.
"Regardless, the announced fixes do not appear to address many
of the larger problems, including the existence of a universal code
that could allow hackers to control the implants," Mr. Carson
wrote.
St. Jude couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Abbott's stock, up 6% this year, closed down 4 cents Monday at
$40.74.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 09, 2017 17:18 ET (22:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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