Final countdown to starting up Loop

I’m ready for liftoff…not sure how this is going to go, but determined to be up and running for my birthday, the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind…maybe…or, perhaps a fiery death. Fingers crossed on these settings.

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Good luck!

So far, so good.

@mohe0001 4 days to make it work…you can totally do it! BTW, Happy Bday a little early…:rocket::birthday:

Thanks, El_Ver. Its kinda working since 1pm today.

Having lots of issues with the BlueTooth communications.
It will run for an hour, then the phone’s BT communications flake out or the G6 flakes out and it shuts down.

I’m kinda wondering if my cheap knock off of an iPhone is sending some goody BT comm that is disruptive to the Dexcom’s comm. But, I have no idea. I’m gonna let it run overnight and see what the data shows.

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The weakest radio connection in Loop is the one between the RileyLink and the pump or the pod in your case. This is a radio frequency or RF connection while the phone to the CGM is BT. The RL to the phone is BT as well. Try keeping the RL as close to the pod as you can, definitely on the same side of your body and with a good line of sight.

The RF comm should be the strongest. Those are functioning. There’s something very wrong with the comm from the Dexcom. I’m troublshooting on FB, but I was hoping to contact you about something MUCH more serious.

This was my worst fear. Please send back a reply that you received this and read it. I am very worried.

I’ve read this article this morning. I see this threat as one that is possible but not likely, at all. Medtronic has noted that not even one incident has been recorded using this tactic. I think the the publicity is what motivated these hackers.

Check out Tim Street’s take on this over at Diabettech. His coverage of this issue concludes with this.

And if you’re using one in a DIY system, you’ll be less likely to have put yourself in hospital as a result of an insulin muck up than someone using a standard pump, or to have been subject to the “[recall]> (Class 2 Device Recall MiniMed 670G)” of a pump with stuck buttons, which affects 117,239 pumps. Thirty times more than the vulnerability which we are discussing here.

To close, I’ll leave you with the thought from both Medtronic and the FDA that I think sums it up for me:

At this time, we have received no confirmed reports of unauthorized persons changing settings or controlling insulin delivery.

Researchers release prior to attacks. Ideally, that’s how its supposed to work. In the worse scenario, the attackers attack and then researchers respond. That’s what they are trying to avoid.

Some things are inferred, but I would bet my life that they can get into your pump.

Who will file these “confirmed reports” when they occur? Who will perform forensic analysis on an insulin pump to see if it was responsible for a death? Not the police. Not the FDA. No one.

They can do much more than is written in print. They have done much more.

What would motivate a bad actor to break into someone’s pump? What’s their prize? If they simply want to do you harm, why not just punch you in the nose or something more extreme?

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Computer worms, for instance, have no motivations or goals. They simply float through the internet attacking whatever they can. Ransomware is considered one of the most popular reasons, recently. But, hospital systems are the most widely attacked systems in the world. Why would anyone want to steal hospital data? Why would anyone want to attack a hospital system? WannaCry ransomware attack - Wikipedia

P.S. I’m not trying to fear monger. But, you all are my friends and this worries me.

Is there something about Omnipod Loop that makes it unacceptable? Or, is this a comfort thing with the pump that you already have?

The creators of such worms certainly have a motivation. The purpose of ransomware, as the name says, is to earn money by forcing victims to pay a ransom. Breaking into someone’s pump has no such benefit.
Computer worms are also relatively easy to make and to spread. In addition, the consequences are minor compared to murder. Exploiting this vulnerability in old Medtronic pumps takes a lot more effort. First you have to purchase a device that can communicate with insulin pumps, then you need to program it and finally, in order to carry out your random murder, out of a population of 329 million, you have to find one of the only 4000 people who still use these pumps. The result? A terribly inefficient attempt to murder someone.

Of course ransomware is applicable to medical devices, just like it is applicable to police departments, and hospital systems. I gotta get back to work…

Nope, the hackers haven’t demonstrated that they could install ransomware on medical devices.

Your just gonna have to trust me, or not trust me - that is not a problem.

Ransomware cannot just float through the air and infect random insulin pumps. You have to go through the same cumbersome process a delivering an overdose. So indeed, there won’t be a problem with ransomware on insulin pumps.

Congrats on starting your loop system! It was a huge goal of mine to make it happen but just couldn’t find a pump or one that wasn’t as much as a new one.
And my thinking about the “hacking”, don’t sweat it! You have other, much better things to worry about. Sure i’ve read the stories and I hate the lack of privacy we sometimes might have with all this technology, but I have realized, it is sucking up way too much of my energy. I just can’t worry about everything. And this goes into my everything category.
And my doomsayer mentality can make me go there, but it just has never crossed my mind that somebody might want to hack some insulin pumps.
I am hoping you are not going to let this stop your looping project! I have talked to and seen how well it works for people. Keep us posted on how it goes! I can’t wait to hear about another person who got tired of waiting and took the jump! Yeah all you loopers!

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I dont use medtronic pumps. I’m fine. Thanks for some relief from the other conversation. Holy cow! That kinda blew up, LOL. Maybe people will loose interest.