@thelog 481462 wrote:
Freaky man. pretty soon there will be cyber murders.
I think there already have been health service computers hacked into and folks prescriptions changed causing harm if not fatalities, and this occured in a European nation.
These security risks are something I actually have to take very seriously at work – though hopefully human nursing staff would spot a blatantly wrong dose and flag it up, plus the NHS deliberately uses “outdated” manual practices for dispensing certain drugs (like handwritten or signed faxes) to deter both this and the greater risk of diversion of what are class A opiates and class B benzos with a fair street value. But they are increasingly talking about hooking up patients monitoring to the wider ICT network and at that point there are all manner of security risks.
its also why I have to be way more careful about my wider lifestyle (i.e no longer get involved in things like illegal events, pirate radio etc) as at a worst case I could easily be called in as a expert witness for a Police statement or Court and to protect my employers (who treat me well) I need to show good personal character and professional ethics.
Even hackers / activists sabotaging the electric grid supply who might not even mean to cause wider harm (such as eco warriors who I am otherwise often sympathetic towards) can hurt vulnerable folk what depend on reliable leccy for medical equipment.
Often this kit cannot be fed easily from a UPS or backup power for a variety of reasons. Gensets and batteries are heavy things and though the care staff don’t mind shifting them, they aren’t trained to look after them any more than I am trained as a doctor or nurse.
A lot of kids playing silly buggers with others systems are young and healthy and often forget there’s older folk what depend on the infrastructure.
This is another reason for the “pirate TV station”, eventually it will be a fun project for me and my staff but also a training resource. the idea is of course to keep it “on air” 24/7 as good as the BBC or similar, but gives people valuable experience on a system where if things do go pear shaped, there isn’t a risk of people getting hurt or the company cost loads of money.
