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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

ATM hacker dies in California

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – A prominent hacker who discovered a way to have ATMs spit out cash and was set to deliver a talk about hacking pacemakers and other wireless implantable medical devices has died in San Francisco, authorities and his employer said.

Barnaby Jack died at his home in San Francisco on Thursday, although the cause of death is still under investigation, San Francisco Deputy Coroner Kris Barbrich said.

Jack, who was in his mid-30s, was scheduled to speak Thursday at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. The headline of his talk was “Implantable Medical Devices: Hacking Humans,” according to a synopsis on the Black Hat conference website.

Jack planned to reveal software that uses a common transmitter to scan for and “interrogate” individual medical implants, the website said.

Jack made headlines at the Black Hat conference in 2010 when he demonstrated his ability to hack stand-alone ATMs. He was able to hack them in two ways – remotely and using physical keys that come with the machines.