Medical Device Security in the Age of the “Internet of Things”

On March 12, 2008, the New York Times reported about a team of computer security researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Universities of Washington and Massachusetts that able to gain wireless access and reprogram a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker to deliver potentially fatal jolts of electricity to a person with the device.   Since that zero day nine years ago, the health care industry has moved up to top of the list for cybersecurity attacks.  Since that zero day nine years ago, millions of pacemakers have been implanted worldwide.  Since that zero day nine years ago, the mobile device market has been forecasted to have 8-Billion-dollar market value by 2019.