OneTouch Ping

OneTouch Ping — the insulin pump which went on sale in 2008 equipped with the system of remote control. Using this device the user can calculate a necessary dose of insulin and remotely enter it. OneTouch Ping is developed by Animas company which since 2005 is "subsidiary" of Johnson & Johnson corporation.

2016: The found vulnerability

At the beginning of October, 2016 Johnson & Johnson warned patients with diabetes and doctors that insulin pumps of OneTouch Ping of the company are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Under the threat there can be lives of tens of thousands of people, however the producer says that you should not sound the alarm.

The problem consists in not ciphered radio signal which uses OneTouch Ping for remote installation of a necessary dose of insulin. Crack the device on the Internet it will not turn out as it is not connected to the World Wide Web, however at stay in close proximity the hacker can theoretically get access to management to a pump it. The overdose of insulin threatens with a deadly hypoglycemia.

Johnson & Johnson warned about vulnerability in an insulin pump of OneTouch Ping

Johnson & Johnson claims that the probability of unauthorized connection to OneTouch Ping is extremely small as cracking requires wide technical experience, the difficult equipment and it is possible from distance no more than 8 meters from the pump. According to the producer, attempts to crack the device was not.

The risk for patients very much is also very small — Brian Levy, the chief of health service of division of Johnson & Johnson specializing in solutions in the field of treatment of diabetes says. — More important the fact that people use glucose meters and pumps as they became the integral component of their health.

Total sales of insulin pumps of OneTouch Ping only in the USA and Canada are estimated by October, 2016 at 114 thousand pieces, the majority of devices is used by patients with type 1 diabetes. Johnson & Johnson does not open proceeds from sales of this equipment, but Brian Levi characterized it as "very good".

Johnson & Johnson announces nothing whether it is going to eliminate vulnerability in OneTouch Ping. The company calls a pump "safe and reliable" and recommends to patients who were excited by a problem of cracking of the device, to independently take precautionary measures — for example, to refuse use of remote control and to program a limit dose of insulin.^[1]

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