Medtronic Recalls a Number of Insulin Pump Models Over Hacking Concerns

• Medtronic recalls their MiniMed insulin pumps since they are found to be vulnerable to hacking attacks.
• The devices could let the attacker obtain and read sensitive data, and even allow the changing of the settings.
• Approximately 4,000 patients are affected by this problem, and they will receive replacement devices for free.

Medtronic (PLC), the world’s largest medical device manufacturer, has decided to recall its “MiniMed” insulin pumps over concerns of their security against hacking attempts. According to a detailed report from the FDA, the problem with this device series is that they may potentially allow attackers to read sensitive data from the device, change the pump’s settings, and control the insulin delivery, all via wireless RF communication, meaning that the attacker needs to be in close proximity. The vulnerability was assigned the identification code “CVE-2019-10964” and a CVSS v3 score of 7.1.

The list of the affected devices is the following:

• MiniMed 508 pump – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 511 pump – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 512/712 pumps – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 712E pump – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 515/715 pumps – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 522/722 pumps – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 522K/722K pumps – All versions
• MiniMed Paradigm 523/723 pumps – Software versions 2.4A or lower
• MiniMed Paradigm 523K/723K pumps – Software versions 2.4A or lower
• MiniMed Paradigm Veo 554/754 pumps – Software versions 2.6A or lower
• MiniMed Paradigm Veo 554CM and 754CM models only – Software versions 2.7A or lower

If you own and use one of the above devices and you cannot afford to send it back to Medtronic for any reason, there are some mitigations that you may follow instead.

• Maintain tight physical control of the pump and devices connected to the pump.
• Do not share pump serial number.
• Be attentive to pump notifications, alarms, and alerts.
• Immediately cancel any unintended boluses (a single dose of insulin administered all at once).
• Do not connect to any third-party devices or use any software not authorized by Medtronic.
• Disconnect CareLink USB devices from computers when not being used to download data from the pump.
• Monitor blood glucose levels closely and act as appropriate.
• Get medical help immediately when experiencing symptoms of severe hypoglycemia or diabetic ketoacidosis, or suspect an insulin pump settings or insulin delivery have changed unexpectedly.

This is not the first time that Medtronic has discovered a cybersecurity issue in one of their devices, as only this March, Medtronic’s defibrillators were found to be plagued by two vulnerabilities that allowed an attacker to access the devices and alter their operation settings. In this recent case of the MiniMed insulin pumps, Medtronic estimates the vulnerable users to be approximately 4,000 diabetes patients. The company says that it’s impossible to push an update to these devices right now, and the only way to deal with the problem is to ask for a free replacement.

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