HEALTHCARE IS ON A WAR SETTING WITH IRAN
The cyberattack against medtech company Stryker isn’t quite like other major cybersecurity events we’ve seen in the healthcare industry in recent years. This attack is part of Iran’s response against the US to the war in the Middle East.
On March 11, an Iran-linked threat actor called Handala (suspected by Israeli cybersecurity experts to be tied to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security) disrupted Stryker’s internal Microsoft network, the company shared in a statement, prompting the company to initiate a cybersecurity “response plan” and an internal investigation, per a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
But crucially, this could be also a sign of more to come within this war, cybersecurity experts have said.
“You can’t look at this cyberattack in a vacuum. It’s direct retaliation tied to the broader conflict with Iran,” Erik Pupo, director of commercial health IT advisory at tech consultancy Guidehouse, told us via email.
Stryker has maintained since the attack that its medical and surgical devices have not been impacted and there has been no sign of malware or ransomware that could impact USB flash drives for related products. Its 56,000 global employees were encouraged to keep company-issued devices turned off and disconnected from networks.
“Incidents like the recent attack on Stryker are a reminder that cyber conflict increasingly mirrors geopolitical tensions, where disruption is used as a signal of reach and capability, not just immediate impact,” Michael Smith, field chief technology officer at digital security company DigiCert, told Healthcare Brew via email.
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