People with diabetes are being asked to check which insulin pump they have after Health Canada said they might be vulnerable to cybersecurity risks.
The agency said Saturday that certain older Medtronic MiniMed 508 and MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps distributed between 2010 and 2015 could be vulnerable to “changes to pump settings by an unauthorized person.”
Those changes could lead to either too much insulin which could cause hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, or too little insulin, leading to hyperglycaemia, or high blood sugar and diabetic ketoacidosis.
Anyone with the affected model of pump is asked to contact their doctor to see if switching to a newer pump is a good idea for them.
Health Canada said it did not have any reports of pumps being hacked at this time. Just over 2,600 of the devices have been sold in Canada.
ALSO READ: Americans head to Canada to buy cheap insulin; some worry about supply here
