[Svartalfiar]

What use could China make of people’s vital measurements? None, absolutely none. This is fear pron.

If medical information is so useless, why is it such a big deal for companies and people here to keep it confidential? And that's not even a hostile Nation-State!

Also, did you miss the part of the excerpt where it allows for remote code execution? How is an easy kill switch already embedded in a bunch of older statesmen's or generals' chests not an issue?

[GingisK]

What do you know about those machines? Nothing. Let me help you out. A monitor has no control outputs. It cannot affect the life-support apparatus to which you may be connected.

The information about individuals in a hospital is of no tactical value to China.

Your medical information is kept confidential because of its potential impact on legal issues with your insurance and doctors or warding off unsolicited sales activities. This also avoids unwanted social situations such as your employment opportunities and so on. It has nothing to do with National Defense or even a war upon you personally.

Before you go goofy, understand that I am an embedded software engineer who designs and implements these sort of things. Software downloads are open in order to perform bug fixes in the software, not to exercise controls they are incapable of performing. They will not update while connected to a patient. These monitors do not have a record that identifies the patient.

Pacemakers or other embedded systems have no business having external RF connectivity. The medical industry would be at fault for selecting any that do or using them without first having the software inspected by a trusted party.