Security researchers successfully hijack a surgery robot

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LONDON: The terrifying hack took place in a controlled environment but could happen in the operating theatre.
Security researchers have successfully managed to hijack a surgery robot, raising fears that something similar could happen in the operating theatre.
The team, from the University of Washington, was looking at telesurgery robots.
These are robots that can carry out life-saving operations in one country while the surgeon is in another one – and sales of them are increasing at a rate of around 20% per year.
The advantage of these robots is that people with poor access to healthcare can have a specialist surgeon treat them from a distance.
On the flipside, these medical robots can be hacked by a malicious attacker in what could have a horrifying impact on patients.
The first ever telesurgery happened in 2001. A surgeon in the US removed the gall bladder of a patient in France from 6,000 km away. The communications (between surgeon and robot) ran along a dedicated fibre optic cable provided specifically for the operation.