Major Recall: Hackers Turning Off Pacemakers

The FDA is issuing a huge recall on certain pacemakers because hackers have found a way to turn off half of a million devices.

The Food and Drug Administration, via News10 ABC, have discovered flaws in certain devices that not only allow hackers to change the settings in the devices but give them the ability to turn them completely off. So far, thank goodness, no devices have been reported to have been turned off but a software update is still necessary to get rid of the potential. No new surgery will be needed.

If you have any of the following St. Jude Medical pacemaker and CRT-P devices, contact your doctor: Accent, Anthem, Accent MRI, Accent ST, Assurity or Allure. This recall does not apply to any ICDs (implantable cardiac defibrillators) or CRT-Ds (cardiac resynchronization ICDs).

Overall if your pacemaker, or any medical technology, has the ability to connect to wi-fi or another internet network then there will be vulnerabilities.