A few security researchers have recently turned their attention from hacking RFID chips to pacemakers and implantable defibrillators.
Apparently a hacker could cause some serious cardiac damage, wirelessly, from less than 5 feet away. For now, the threat appears to be “largely theoretical”, whatever that means. At the least, the idea of someone being able to stop a heart, via remote control, would make for a great novel or movie plotline.
But for those 250,000 folks sporting a pacemaker under their skin, it might be time to start thinking about making suspicious visitors and money hungry, unscrupulous, relatives check their laptops and other wireless devices at the door.
