Hospital machines can be turned into MURDER weapons with cyber hackers seizing control of pacemakers, insulin pumps and painkiller drips, Swiss experts warn

By ROB HYDE and TARYN PEDLER

Published: 09:59 BST, 2 April 2025 | Updated: 10:16 BST, 2 April 2025

Swiss experts have issued a dire warning that hospital machines could be turned into weapons of murder by cyber hackers.

In a terrifying new report from Zurich-based cybersecurity Scip AG, experts revealed how they were easily able to hijack medical devices in a major hospital and manipulate them remotely.

Png pacemakers, insulin pumps and painkiller drips can then all be turned automatically into twisted tools of assassination.

‘We could have overdosed patients with lethal amounts of drugs within minutes,’ said Marc Ruef, head of research at Scip.

‘And we even hacked the monitors to fake the vital signs so no one would know it had happened.’

One expert admitted he managed to hack his own pain pump during a hospital stay – just out of boredom.

But the matter is far more seriously, for not only could attackers silently kill patients in their beds, they could also even cover their tracks by showing totally normal health readings.

It’s not the first red flag either. Last year, a German university warned that pacemakers could be a ‘prime target for assassination.’

Hospital machines, including painkiller drips (pictured), could be turned into weapons of murder by cyber hackers, Swiss experts have warned

Experts revealed how cyber hackers were easily able to hijack medical devices in a major hospital and manipulate them remotely

Png pacemakers, insulin pumps (pictured) and painkiller drips can then all be turned automatically into twisted tools of assassination

And Cybersecurity specialist Johannes Rundfeldt, digital expert and spokesperson for the independent expert group AG Kritis, said this even means extremely powerful individuals such as world leaders who could be quietly taken out with a hacked heart device.

‘These can involve individual attacks on individuals: heads of state, generals, ministers, or similar individuals.’

‘How would we even prove it?…A sudden cardiac arrest wouldn’t raise suspicion – and hackers leave no fingerprints.’

And it’s not just devices – entire hospitals have been paralysed recently by cyber attacks.

In January, hackers took down a clinic in Lower Saxony, western Germany, demanding ransom money to restore systems.

The first ever case of a patient’s death being linked directly to a cyberattack happened in 2020.

Prosecutors in Cologne said a female patient from Düsseldorf was scheduled to undergo critical care at Düsseldorf University Hospital in Germany when the September 9 attack disabled systems.

The ransomware attack hit the hospital during the night, scrambling data and making computer systems inoperable. 

When Düsseldorf could no longer provide care, she was transferred 30km away to another hospital to receive life-saving treatment.

Former chief executive of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre Ciaran Martin said at the time: ‘If confirmed, this tragedy would be the first known case of a death directly linked to a cyber-attack. 

‘It is not surprising that the cause of this is a ransomware attack by criminals rather than an attack by a nation state or terrorists.

‘Although the purpose of ransomware is to make money, it stops systems working. So if you attack a hospital, then things like this are likely to happen. 

‘There were a few near misses across Europe earlier in the year and this looks, sadly, like the worst might have come to pass.’

Globally, more than a staggering 183 million patient records were hit by cyberattacks in 2024 alone, according to the Horizon security report.

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Hospital machines can be turned into MURDER weapons with cyber hackers seizing control of pacemakers, insulin pumps and painkiller drips, Swiss experts warn

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