4 ms·
This. How are these devices not running on some sort of hardened OS seen in airplanes and automotive? Medical applications are mission critical (or some varian
by Dwolb 10y ago
This. How are these devices not running on some sort of hardened OS seen in airplanes and automotive? Medical applications are mission critical (or some variant) and should have same (or better!) certification procedures set up for correctness and security.
- aavotins 10y agoSecond this. It is terrifying to know that mission critical, medical grade software runs on a consumer operating system. Military/aerospace systems have numerous requirements and clearly defined practices and ways of developing these systems, often going through various layers of documentation and using specifically designed programming languages(like the Z programming language) to write specifications, which are then re-written into code, but it seems like medical industry has been neglected.
- ktRolster 10y agoThen this story about viruses at a nuclear power plant won't make you feel any better: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclearpower-cyber-germany-idUSKCN0XN2OS http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclearpower-cyber-germany... Some great quotes: "Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finland-based F-Secure, said that infections of critical infrastructure were surprisingly common" "Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit."
- zyxley 10y ago> The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit. The moral of the story: If you include any kind of port in something, people WILL plug things into it sooner or later.
- ams6110 10y agoSounds suspect to me. Aircraft computers are not running Android.
- copperx 10y agoI'm pretty sure the entertainment system runs on some version of Android.
- koluft 10y agoThey run USB, it doesn't matter what OS is on the other side.
- ams6110 10y agoSure it does. If you plug a USB drive full of Windows viruses into a Linux box, nothing will happen.
- clay_to_n 10y agoIs there Android malware that, when connected to a Windows PC, spreads Windows malware? Sounds reasonable in this situation.
- radicalbyte 10y agoI've been working in Medical for a couple of years... it's because Medical is extremely fault tolerant. They put up with a lot of rubbish that wouldn't be accepted in other industries. Aeronautical and Automotive are both engineering driven, Medical isn't, it's a big grey area.
- wyldfire 10y agoYou might be surprised to realize that many applications of medical devices are not used for affirmative life support and therefore should not be held to the same standards as aviation. This application (cath lab activity logging) is not a life-support activity. Product failures of any kind (either due to design error or product defect) represent a diminished capability of diagnosis and treatment. This does not represent a risk of harm to a patient. That said, some medical device manufacturers treat this aspect of design very seriously and go to great pains to use defeatured and heavily restricted OS and settings.