Country's apex drug regulator CDSCO on Wednesday issued an alert about insulin pumps manufactured by US medical equipment giant Medtronic, saying they have cybersecurity risks as someone other than the patient can wirelessly connect to them, change its settings and control insulin delivery.
The alert said this could allow a person to overdose the patient with insulin, leading to low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), or to stop insulin delivery, leading to high blood sugar and diabetic ketoacidosis (a buildup of acids in the blood).
The CDSCO in its alert said,"Security researchers have identified potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities related to these insulin pumps.
"Any unauthorised person with special technical skills and equipment could potentially connect wirelessly to a nearby insulin pump and change the pump's settings and control the delivery," the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) said in its alert.