Updated 7.57pm

WHEN DIABETIC RESEARCHER Jay Radcliffe hacked his insulin pump, he wanted to highlight how easy it would be for hackers to kill diabetics.

Radcliffe rose to prominence in hacking circles when he showed a 2011 Las Vegas hacking convention that the Medtronic insulin pump, the same brand he wore, could be attacked.

He showed conference goers that the device, which provides him doses of insulin, could be hacked by remotely accessing a wireless communications system the pump uses to monitor its surroundings.

He argued that the hack could be used to kill diabetics.

Medtronic later hired security consultants and found another sent of vulnerabilities in the devices.

Now, Radcliffe has turned his work in medical security into a job, being hired by Rapid7, a private security firm based in Boston.

Speaking on the Rapid7 blog after being hired, he said that he will work to “make the world a better place”.

“Rapid7 was very encouraging of my continued research in the area of Medical Device security and safety.

“As a patient and user of this technology, making the world a safer place has become one of my passions; emerging technologies in the medical world are often ill-equipped for the dangers that the interconnected world faces, and we need spokespeople to draw attention to these dangers.”

First published 8.45am

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