U.S. medtech company Stryker hit by Iran-linked hackers

American medical technology company Stryker is currently experiencing a massive cyberattack that caused the shutdown of their IT systems and, consequently, the closure of the company’s offices.

An Iran-linked digital activist collective known as Handala is claims credit for the cyberattack on Stryker. This would be the first major cyberattack carried out following the US war in Iran. Cybersecurity researchers have warned that U.S. companies face a high risk of threat, primarily from hacktivist groups linked to Iran.

THE Wall Street Journal reports that the cyberattack began around midnight Wednesday as Stryker employees watched in real time as data was erased from the company’s computers. The company called the attack a “global network disruption” related to its Microsoft environment.

During the attack, Handala’s logo also appeared on Stryker’s login portals, forcing employees to scramble to unplug their computers. According to the WSJ, in certain departments of the company, 95% of computers were erased.

Stryker’s computer network is effectively unusable at the moment, and the company has reportedly sent its employees home and farm entirely its corporate offices.

“Stryker is experiencing a global network disruption to our Microsoft environment as a result of a cyberattack,” the company said in a statement. statement published on its website. “We have no indications of ransomware or malware and believe the incident is contained. Our teams are working quickly to understand the impact of the attack on our systems.”

Stryker manufactures a variety of medical devices such as surgical tools and emergency service equipment. The company has 56,000 employees worldwide and generates $25 billion in revenue each year.

Handala said she was opening a “new chapter in cyberwarfare” with the attack on Stryker. The hacker group claimed the cyberattack was in retaliation for the bombing of an Iranian school, which Iranian authorities said killed 175 people, most of them children. A standing army investigation has so far believed that the United States was primarily responsible for the school strike, according to the New York Times.

The Iran-linked group said it targeted Stryker because the company works with the U.S. military, recently signing a $450 million deal for medical devices last year and previously acquiring Israeli company OrthoSpace.