[efournie]

I worked on pacemaker firmware about 15 years ago. Even back then, this kind a scenario would have been very improbable.

To reprogram a pacemaker, you needed first to activate a reed switch with a magnet, then transmit the right commands, properly encrypted and with their matching checksums.

Parameters could of course not be set outside of safe bounds and in case of software failure there was a safe default mode that was running on dedicated hardware.

Either there are some really dumb companies developing active implants out there, or the article and allegations are sensationalistic conjectures.

Edit: I don't know much about brain implants, maybe induced currents in the electrode are enough to trigger some kind of seizure. This scenario may be possible. For a pacemaker though, I doubt that it would be possible to trigger a single extrasystole with normal electric or RF devices.

[busterarm]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnaby_Jack#Pacemakers