In an attempt to draw attention to the security gaps found in many medical imaging devices, like CT or MRI machines, Israeli researchers have developed a malware specifically designed to exploit the vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The malware they created would allow cyber criminals to add realistic, malignant-seeming growths to imaging scans before radiologists and doctors examine them. As if this wasn\u2019t bad enough, the malware would also grant hackers the ability to remove real cancerous nodules and lesions without detection. Therefore, if these security gaps go unpatched, this malware could lead to misdiagnosis and possibly a failure to treat patients who need critical and timely care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To\nprove this as a legitimate possibility, researchers conducted a blind study involving\nreal CT lung scans, 70 of which were altered by the malware. Alarmingly, three skilled radiologists\nmisdiagnosed conditions nearly every time. In the case of scans with fabricated\ncancerous nodules, the radiologists diagnosed cancer 99% of the time. In cases\nwhere the malware removed real cancerous nodules from scans, the radiologists\nsaid those patients were healthy 94% of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only were the radiologists tricked, but the altered scan images The vulnerabilities permitting someone to alter\nscans reside in the equipment and networks hospitals use to transmit and store\nCT and MRI images. These images are sent to radiology workstations and back-end\ndatabases through what\u2019s known as a picture archiving and communication system\n(PACS). It was confirmed, these forms of\nattacks are able to be executed because hospitals don\u2019t digitally sign the\nscans, nor do they use encryption within the PACS networks. Therefore, once an intruder gains access,\nthey are not only able to view the scans, but alter them as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to gain access to the PACS network, the\nattacker would either need physical access to connect a malicious device\ndirectly to the network cables, or they could plant malware remotely from the\nInternet. Based on the information discovered by the researchers, this would\nnot be difficult, as many PACS networks are either directly connected to the\nInternet or accessible through hospital machines that are connected to the\nInternet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To prevent hackers from altering CT and MRI scans, hospitals would need to enable end-to-end encryption across their PACS network and digitally sign all images while also making sure that radiology and doctor workstations are set up to verify those signatures and flag any images that aren\u2019t properly signed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In an attempt to draw attention to the security gaps found in many medical imaging devices, like CT or MRI machines, Israeli researchers have developed a malware specifically designed to exploit the vulnerability. The Malware Variant The malware they created would allow cyber criminals to add realistic, malignant-seeming growths to imaging scans before radiologists and doctors examine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5090],"tags":[5501,56],"class_list":["post-60900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","category-slider","tag-exploit","tag-malware"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Exploit<\/h4>\n\n\n\n