St. Jude Medical Inc. has issued a statement regarding allegations made by Muddy Waters Capital and MedSec.
“Patients are our highest priority. St. Jude Medical takes our commitment to patients very seriously because we understand that the 20,000 patients around the world who receive our lifesaving and life improving therapies – every business day – count on us to always put them first. And we do,” according to a company news release.
“The allegations made by Muddy Waters and MedSec are irresponsible, misleading and unnecessarily frightening patients,” said Michael T. Rousseau President and chief executive officer at St. Jude Medical. “We want our patients to know that they can feel secure about the cybersecurity protections in place on our devices. This behavior speaks volumes about the profit-seeking motives and integrity of these organizations.”
The news release also states that further demonstrating their fundamental lack of understanding of St. Jude Medical’s medical device technology, Muddy Waters Capital and MedSec presented a video that actually demonstrated the Radio Frequency (RF) Telemetry Lockout security feature of our pacemakers – not a “crash” as they claimed. The video also confirms that the device’s clinical functions are operating as expected under these conditions.
“The video clearly shows a security feature, not a flaw. The pacemaker is actually functioning as designed. If attacked, our pacemakers place themselves into a ‘safe’ mode to ensure the device continues to work, which further proves our commitment to safety and security,” said Phil Ebeling, vice president and chief technology officer at St. Jude Medical.
“Patient safety is and has always been our top priority,” said Mark Carlson, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer at St. Jude Medical. “Our devices are safe and we have taken and continue to take appropriate steps to address the dynamic challenges of cyber security. We do this because it is the responsible thing to do for the patients and physicians who rely on our devices.”
