Posted on 02/23/2025 4:39:46 PM PST by Libloather
**SNIP**
A popular medical monitor is the latest device produced in China to receive scrutiny for its potential cyber risks. However, it is not the only health device we should be concerned about. Experts say the proliferation of Chinese health-care devices in the U.S. medical system is a cause for concern across the entire ecosystem.
The Contec CMS8000 is a popular medical monitor that tracks a patient's vital signs. The device tracks electrocardiograms, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, non-invasive blood pressure, temperature, and respiration rate. In recent months, the FDA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) both warned about a "backdoor" in the device, an "easy-to-exploit vulnerability that could allow a bad actor to alter its configuration."
CISA's research team described "anomalous network traffic" and the backdoor "allowing the device to download and execute unverified remote files" to an IP address not associated with a medical device manufacturer or medical facility but a third-party university — "highly unusual characteristics" that go against generally accepted practices, "especially for medical devices."
"When the function is executed, files on the device are forcibly overwritten, preventing the end customer—such as a hospital—from maintaining awareness of what software is running on the device," CISA wrote.
The warnings says such configuration alteration could lead to, for instance, the monitor saying that a patient's kidneys are malfunctioning or breathing failing, and that could cause medical staff to administer unneeded remedies that could be harmful.
The Contec equipment's vulnerability doesn't surprise medical and IT experts who have warned for years that medical device security is too lax.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnewyork.com ...
There’s no crying in baseball. We need to compete harder and smarter.
Our company makes medical devices and I was told to avoid sourcing from China and India.
Fortunately I was able to find a Canadian supplier.
Well, make the equipment here!
Is there anything made in China that we cannot make ourselves??????????
Or just do not hook it up to the internet.
How many of these devices are installed in Walter Reed or other military hospitals?
> Well, make the equipment here! <
Try that, and all sorts of federal, state, and local regulators will harass you. Better have all your permits in order! *
Plus you’ve got to pay your employees way more than what the typical Chinese employee makes. Plus there’s taxes. Plus there’s fees. You simply will not be competitive with that Chinese company.
Ah, but Trump is back in the White House. He gets all this. It remains to be seen how successful he will be.
* Side story: Two young guys tried to open a deli near me. I was in there a few times. Good food and good service. But they weren’t 100% compliant with all the ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’ regulations. So they were harassed by inspectors.
They finally gave up, and shut down.
Over a very brief time, MAGA policies will fix this.
Sell it here. Make it here.
American Engineers making products in America.
Rehome the Manufacturing Ecosystem.
Get on board the Trump Train!
Indeed!
But....in the meantime .... don’t....go...to...the....hospital or day surgery :-)
I watched some videos of a guy disassembling one of these things, dumping the flash, and digging through the contents. CAN it connect to a given IP address that happens to be in China? YES IT CAN. Does it do it without the user going through a bunch of menus? NO IT DOESN’T. It appears to be something like a firmware update that you have to trigger to get it to connect to China.
Still bad? Yes! As bad as they make it out to be? NO.
He is gone in four years. Don't you think we should be cultivating "leaders in depth"? How do people put so much stock into one man without taking the longer view?
Interesting
My company re-markets bio/life sciences lab and scientific equipment
We won’t touch Chinese equipment
I think hospitals, medical clinics and nursing homes should quit purchasing anything made in China. People DIED here because heparin produced in China was contaminated, Chinese monitors are crap and gloves made in China LEAK and TEAR easily which is very unsafe for patients and medical personnel.
I’m going in for an infusion tomorrow. I will have to make note of the machine they use for my IV. I don’t think it will be the one in the article, but I’m curious to see where it was manufactured.
If you have Internet of Things things around your house, and don’t have the technical wherewithal to set up VLANs to limit their access to your other systems and to the Internet, you really ought to think about it more.
I’m talking smart switches, outlets, thermostats, water sensors, smart vacuums, lots of stuff.
Have you watched any JD Vance speeches?
What makes you think that is not happening?
The big problem is that there are no US-based alternatives. Outside of exotic weapon systems we don’t make anything here anymore. They dug a deep hole for us.
We shall see. Conservatives have been asleep at the switch for decades.
At least since the absolutely absurd 1982 consent decree, which basically meant Republicans couldn’t contest election fraud. Fortunately that has ended, and we have new non-Uniparty leadership that wasn’t content to let it ride.
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