Barnaby Jack, the ethical hacker who demonstrated how ATMs could be made to empty their vaults, has died.
Jack was scheduled to present at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas later this week, on shortcomings in the security of medical devices. The subject of the talk was billed as “Implantable Medical Devices: Hacking Humans”.
Jack was expected to focus on the security of wireless implantable medical devices, how they operate and communicate, and the security shortcoming of the current protocols.
He was expected to reveal internal research software from security company IOActive, which uses a common bedside transmitter to scan for and interrogate individual medical implants, and to discuss how manufacturers could improve the security of medical devices.
Conference organisers say they won’t replace Jack’s talk, but will leave the Thursday slot open “to commemorate his life and work”.
In 2010, Jack used the Black Hat conference to demonstrate his ability to hack standalone ATMs, both remotely and by using physical keys.