Barnaby Jack, a hacker who was due to present his findings on the security vulnerabilities of implanted medical devices, has died.
The San Francisco medical examiner's office said Jack, 35, died in the city on Thursday.
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Jack had exposed a security flaw in insulin pumps that could dispense a fatal dose from 300ft away, pushing some medical companies to review the security of these devices.
He was also a popular and respected figure in the information security scene. Within that small scene, reverse engineers are especially close, said Matthieu Suiche, a friend of Jack's and chief scientist at CloudVolumes Inc in an email. "We pretty much all know each other, or have lots of common friends," Suiche said. "It's almost like we all grew up together."
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He called his friend "brilliant", and said Jack's latest research on medical devices could help save the lives of many people. "In this world full of people fearfully complying and worrying, very few people are crazy enough to challenge the rules, to approach life in an unconventional paradigm and to speak up to contribute to change this world," Suiche said.
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At the time of his death, Jack was director of embedded security research at security firm IOActive. On Twitter, the company said: "Lost but never forgotten our beloved pirate, Barnaby Jack has passed. He was a master hacker and dear friend. Here's to you Barnes!"
