Can anyone with more insight than me (medical background perhaps? Or 'experienced' diabetic, since I think this leads to a specific background just as well) tell me what attack vector this could open?
I don't want to play this down, the argument just doesn't match with what I (think to) know, so - please educate me.
Isn't the maximum dose limited by the pump? And the models I've seen seem to take a long time to inject something (with a step motor, for these things).
What could you do to the 'victim'?
Supressing the basal/ongoing rate would send them on a high level of blood sugar, something that I'd expect leads to a very clear reaction: The person, if ~experienced~, will feel nasty, check the pump (maybe the battery died and you didn't hear the alarm. Maybe something with the injection needle went wrong), measure glucose level again and - depending on the result - apply a 'fast' insulin via direct injection. Am I glossing over something here?
Injecting a large(r) amount of insulin would, with a delay that seems to be related to the type of insulin used, send the person into dangerous low levels of blood sugar. Unless this hits at once though, I'd again expect the person to _know_ that there's something wrong if you start craving for every food you can imagine. Probably you'll feel like shit and start shaking etc. pp. I assume this is the more dangerous route, but again the first reaction is probably 'Fuck diabetes, what's going on with my levels', a check of the current sugar levels and direct counter measures (if it's not too bad: Juice, fructose etc. Otherwise you probably have again an injection nearby).
After typing all this I DO wonder what happens if someone causes this in your sleep though...
So - can someone tell me how wrong I am and tell me about the purely medical dangers?
Dropping an unexpected dose of insulin would be much more dangerous than simply disabling the pump.
Disabling the pump would result in an increasing level of blood glucose over a fairly long period of time (likely a day or two). I would be very surprised if a 'victim' didn't notice the issue with their pump long before there were any detectable side effects.
Dumping an unexpected shot of insulin into the victim's system would crash their blood glucose over a fairly short period of time (an hour or two). One of the first side effects of hypoglycemia is confusion, which would reduce their chances of noticing something is wrong.
Long story short: I wouldn't worry about "DoS'sing" the pump, but I would worry about triggering extra insulin "dosings".
My experience with insulin pumps is limited to dealing with patients who are having some sort of blood glucose related emergency (as an EMT).
Can anyone with more insight than me (medical background perhaps? Or 'experienced' diabetic, since I think this leads to a specific background just as well) tell me what attack vector this could open?
I don't want to play this down, the argument just doesn't match with what I (think to) know, so - please educate me.
Isn't the maximum dose limited by the pump? And the models I've seen seem to take a long time to inject something (with a step motor, for these things).
What could you do to the 'victim'?
Supressing the basal/ongoing rate would send them on a high level of blood sugar, something that I'd expect leads to a very clear reaction: The person, if ~experienced~, will feel nasty, check the pump (maybe the battery died and you didn't hear the alarm. Maybe something with the injection needle went wrong), measure glucose level again and - depending on the result - apply a 'fast' insulin via direct injection. Am I glossing over something here?
Injecting a large(r) amount of insulin would, with a delay that seems to be related to the type of insulin used, send the person into dangerous low levels of blood sugar. Unless this hits at once though, I'd again expect the person to _know_ that there's something wrong if you start craving for every food you can imagine. Probably you'll feel like shit and start shaking etc. pp. I assume this is the more dangerous route, but again the first reaction is probably 'Fuck diabetes, what's going on with my levels', a check of the current sugar levels and direct counter measures (if it's not too bad: Juice, fructose etc. Otherwise you probably have again an injection nearby).
After typing all this I DO wonder what happens if someone causes this in your sleep though...
So - can someone tell me how wrong I am and tell me about the purely medical dangers?