back to article Pacemaker hack legend Barnaby Jack dies just before Black Hat revelations

Barnaby Jack, the 35-year-old security researcher who demonstrated cash machine hacks live on stage in Las Vegas and later highlighted the insecurity of smart medical devices, has died. His death was confirmed by staff at his employer, security biz IOActive, and his sister Amberleigh Jack. His passing comes days before the …

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  1. Dan Paul
    Black Helicopters

    Sounds suspicious to me, better check where the Alphabet Agencies have been

    Just too convenient that this happens just before a hacker conference. Wonder if he had something really astounding to show and "THEY" wanted him gone......Was there a FEMA "Emergency Operation" going on nearby?

    1. Robinson
      WTF?

      Re: Sounds suspicious to me, better check where the Alphabet Agencies have been

      Which is more likely: That this guy died of natural causes because you know sometimes people do, or that he was assassinated by Lizard Theorists for working out a new way to hack an ATM?

      Remember, the Bourne movies were fiction and get a grip on yourself.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Big Brother

        Re: Sounds suspicious to me, better check where the Alphabet Agencies have been

        > Remember, the Bourne movies were fiction and get a grip on yourself.

        That's what they want you to think.

        Pump reality onto the silver screen via Hollywood, and no-one will even believe it anymore.

        Perfect strategy.

      2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Paris Hilton

        Re: Sounds suspicious to me, better check where the Alphabet Agencies have been

        > That this guy died of natural causes because you know sometimes people do

        Anyone up for a Bayesian analysis?

      3. Daniel B.
        Black Helicopters

        Re: Sounds suspicious to me, better check where the Alphabet Agencies have been

        Remember, the Bourne movies were fiction and get a grip on yourself.

        Ironically, the whole Snowden affair reads pretty much like a Bourne movie by itself!

        1. oolor

          Re: Sounds suspicious to me, better check where the Alphabet Agencies have been

          >Ironically, the whole Snowden affair reads pretty much like a Bourne movie by itself!

          Right down to government agency personnel incompetence.

          As for speculation of cause, I would say genetic predisposition to something with hedge on chemical - either prescribed or recreational. Of course black helicopters would no longer be much of a surprise either, but he is dead, so that kinda mostly rules it out.

  2. Alien Doctor 1.1

    I wouldn't be surprised...

    if the "health" industry had him bumped off.

    1. TimeMaster T
      Black Helicopters

      Re: I wouldn't be surprised...

      Nor would I.

      I can think of several other people who tried to reveal information about risks/vulnerabilities involving very big companies/interests who either had "accidents" or just flat out vanished shortly before they were going to hand over the information they had to the public.

      Anyone else remember Karen Silkwood?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood

      If Jack's research is missing or "unavailable" I will be less likely to believe his death was from natural causes.

  3. Dan Paul
    Trollface

    Nothing surprises me anymore nor should it

    Looks like you folks have completely lost your sense of sarcasm and irony, guess I should have used the troll icon.

    But hey, you fell for it, hook, line & sinker...........unfortunately nothing surprises me anymore and given the recent disclosures of the Alphabet Agencies collecting and reading emails, texts and phone messages, and their other covert operations against American Citizens; can you tell me you are 100% sure it could not have been the spooks involved?

    They DO have nearly undetectable ways of making such a death look like "natural causes"!

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Nothing surprises me anymore nor should it

      Don't know why you want to put out the troll icon or the flag of irony if you know how the cookie crumbles?

    2. oolor

      Re: Nothing surprises me anymore nor should it

      >They DO have nearly undetectable ways of making such a death look like "natural causes"!

      But if they implanted a pacemaker and he hacked it, would it be death by misadventure?

  4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Meh

    Hmm. Certainly curious.

    Convenient as well?

  5. Katie Saucey
    Black Helicopters

    Snowden connection...

    <tinfoil_mode> Snowden is obviously the agency false flag, a paid actor who takes all main-stream media attention while telling us essentially what was already widely suspected. Now the real house cleaning steps up. </tinfoil_mode>

    1. Mage Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Snowden connection...

      <tinfoil_mode> Snowden is obviously the agency false flag, a paid actor who takes all main-stream media attention while telling us essentially what was already widely known. Now the real house cleaning steps up. </tinfoil_mode>

      Fixed for ye

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Flame

        Re: Snowden connection...

        > who takes all main-stream media attention

        It's not like he has said himself to please stop the "human interest" story faggotry and concentrate on what the fracking powerpoint slides are saying, MEDIA ASSHOLES.

        > what was already widely known

        The stupid, it burns.

        1. Katie Saucey
          Headmaster

          Re: Snowden connection...

          >implying

          >using this punctuation

          El Reg is a nice spot to get away from such BS as 4chan and such anarchism's , please comply.

          1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
            Paris Hilton

            Re: Snowden connection...

            Are you seriously implying that I imply?

            Also, it's "anarchisms", as you don't wanna use a genitive.

            >using this punctuation

            AFAIK, it's called "greentexting".

            1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
              Facepalm

              Re: Destroyed All Braincells Re: Snowden connection...

              "......Also, it's "anarchisms", as you don't wanna use a genitive......" Actually, it's correctly termed "incredibly obtuse gullibility, based on envy, dressed up as a political ideal", but maybe you'll understand that when you get older and a bit of Worldly experience.

              And as for all the people trying to imply this was the NSA or CIA that killed him, are you seriously damaged or what? Look at his age group - too young for most natural causes unless some form of chemical stimulant was involved, but exactly the type of social group likely to be using stimulants. I suspect that, when the almost inevitable history of drug-abuse follows, and the coroner's report indicates a cocaine overdose or similar, you'll no doubt insist it was the CIA forcing him to snort coke for years in preparation for having him snort on line too much at a "convenient" time. LOL.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Destroyed All Braincells Snowden connection...

                "I suspect that, when the almost inevitable history of drug-abuse follows, and the coroner's report indicates a cocaine overdose or similar, you'll no doubt insist it was the CIA forcing him to snort coke for years in preparation for having him snort on line too much at a "convenient" time. LOL."

                What about meth? It can be taken orally, so it can be slipped into food or drink, it has a history of shoddy manufacture resulting in toxic batches, and it's a known drug of his age group. Suddenly a lot more plausible. I'd be worried if we cause of death as "poisoning by impure methamphetamine".

  6. anon9045839452
    Unhappy

    RIP to an amazing hacker

    This is very, very sad news.

    This man was one of the most amazing hackers on the planet. RIP Jack. Your antics will be missed

  7. SonderTwyful

    Ironic

    How ironic that he was to give a talk about how hacks to medical devices could conceivably kill someone. I hope his death was quick and painless. He was a great asset to the security research community and will be missed.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At the end of the day "big pharma" has a lot of money, why wouldn't they if it saved them millions?

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: RealityWarpOfTheNerd

      "At the end of the day "big pharma" has a lot of money, why wouldn't they if it saved them millions?" OK, please show where any "big pharma" displayed any anger at Jack's revelations? How about explaining how it would have cost "big pharma" the millions in profits you imply they stood to lose by Jack's interesting but very unrealistic scenarios? Please try and keep at least one foot in reality when doing so. Please remember that many medical devices, such as pacemakers, have been vulnerable to "threats" like microwave ovens and magnetic scanners for years, so the means for quite simple yet fatal "attacks", without any of Jack's specialized gear, has been around for ages. A lot of Jack's revelations were interesting for their nerd appeal only. After all, you don't build a remote-controlled Jumbo 747 and fly it into someone's house when hitting them over the head with a two-by-four will do.

  9. ed2020

    Nice

    He was a much better person than he was a hacker, and that is saying something.

    I can't claim to know much about the guy, or his achievements, but that's a hell of a tribute.

  10. Homer 1

    How did he die?

    I'll say it was:

    . The NSA

    . In Moscow Airport's transit lounge

    . With the insulin pump

  11. andre 2

    Re. How did he die

    The preliminary report seems to show he died of natural causes.

    Possibly undiagnosed Long QT, as this can cause sudden cardiac death with little or no warning.

    Even athletes have suffered from this, not so long ago it made the news after a footballer collapsed on the pitch from this affliction.

    Sad news indeed, lets give the conspiracy theories a rest out of respect kthx.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Your sanctimoniousness tires me.

      "out of respect"

      The last refuge of [redacted].

  12. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    If finding/revealing bugs put one at risk for reprisals by the industry involved, Redmond Washington would be the scene of some serious carnage.

    And then there's an aircraft manufacturer just down the road who isn't happy about being in the limelight either.

  13. JBrnr

    Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity. -- Marshall McLuhan

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