Tributes Flood In For Legendary Security Researcher Barnaby Jack

According to a barrage of tweets this morning, much-loved security researcher Barnaby Jack has passed away.

Details are thin on the ground, but a co-worker at IOActive and a tweet from his sister appear to have confirmed his passing. He died in San Francisco but it is not clear what happened, Reuters said.

Jack was noted for a number of significant pieces of research, including vulnerabilities in ATM machines that could be used to make them spew out cash, and exploitation of flaws in medical technologies, such as pacemakers.

‘RIP Barnes’

Colleagues and admirers showed their appreciation on Twitter, calling him one of the greatest, and “a great mind”.

He was due to give a presentation at Black Hat in Las Vegas next week, focusing on the security of wireless implantable medical devices, flaws in the protocols they use and how to protect them.

Jack has worked for various companies other than IOActive, including McAfee and Juniper Networks. Last year, he was called on by McAfee to come up with ways to protect cars from exploitation.

IOActive said of Jack: “Lost but never forgotten our beloved pirate, Barnaby Jack has passed. He was a master hacker and dear friend. Here’s to you Barnes!”

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