Computer experts attending the annual Def Con gathering in Las Vegas discussed how hackers can virtually kill people by having them legally declared dead. Australian computer security specialist Chris Rock delivered a presentation titled “I will kill you” that went over how computer hackers can manipulate the process of declaring a person dead. He discussed how people can pose as doctors and funeral directors to submit the forms necessary for declaring someone dead. One of the major incidents that event attendants discussed happened a year ago in Melbourne Australia’s Austin Hospital when an administrative error, a click in the wrong box, caused 200 death certificates instead of 200 discharge notices to be issued.
See Glenn Chapman, Def Con: Hackers can virtually kill people, manipulate death records, Australian security expert says, ABC News, August 8, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
