Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, has revealed that
he had his heart implant modified for fear of terrorist attack.
Mr Cheney's doctor disabled the heart defibrillator's
wireless function in 2007 to prevent would-be assassins from interfering with
it and causing a fatal heart attack.
A similar scenario featured in an episode of the hit TV
series Homeland.
"I found it credible," Mr Cheney told CBS TV's 60
Minutes programme.
"I know from the experience we had, and the necessity
for adjusting my own device, that it was an accurate portrayal of what was
possible,'' said Mr Cheney, who was President George W Bush's right-hand man
during the "war on terror".
'Close proximity'
"Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) can be
vulnerable to a range of electronic signals," said Adrian Culley, global
technical consultant for security company Damballa.
"Research has been undertaken which shows it is
entirely feasible to potentially exploit someone's ICD, given close proximity
to the individual."
But he said the chance of a successful attack on Mr Cheney
would have been "slim".
An ICD monitors heartbeat and if it detects an irregular
rhythm, sends low-energy electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a
normal rate.
In 2008, researchers from the University of Washington, the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Harvard Medical School, claimed that
they could carry out software radio-based attacks on ICDs that could
"compromise patient safety and patient privacy".
More recent research has also highlighted the security and
data privacy weaknesses of some implantable medical devices.
"Since the experiments in 2008, experts have
acknowledged that greater security of these devices is required, and encryption
has been introduced to prevent the loss of personal data," a spokesman for
the Institute of Risk Management said.
"As with all electronic devices, the possibility of
targeted hacking still exists given the right physical situation, expert
knowledge of the device and the necessary equipment.
"However, it is much more likely that a strong
electromagnetic field will cause the device to malfunction," he said.
Cardiac arrest
The American Heart Association warns ICD users against too
much close-range exposure to a number of electronic devices, from mobile phones
to metal detectors, retail security systems to powerful CB radios.
But it points out that, in most cases, the risks are small.
Cardiologist Jonathan Reiner has co-written a book with Mr
Cheney called, Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, chronicling the former
vice-president's many heart problems.
Mr Reiner told 60 Minutes that on 11 September 2001, the day
of the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, the potassium in Mr
Cheney's blood rose to levels that could have caused abnormal heart rhythms and
cardiac arrest - a condition called hyperkalemia.
Mr Reiner feared the vice-president was going to die that
night.
Mr Cheney, 72, has a long history of heart troubles
culminating in a heart transplant last year.
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