US medical tech company targeted by Iranian-linked hackers, systems disrupted

WASHINGTON (TNND) — A hacking group connected to Iran has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on a U.S. medical technology company. The group, called ‘Handala,’ targeted Stryker, headquartered in Michigan. The hack widely disrupted its networks, while also wiping employees’ laptops and cellphones.

The reality is, now that this is happening, we have to have war time thinking which means, if you go to a trusted site and there’s ads, don’t click on them,” Eric Cole, Former CIA & National Cyber Security Expert told The National News Desk.

Cole said Iran knows it can’t hold its weight with the U.S. in a kinetic war. So it’s resulting in cyberattacks to flex some muscle.

Cole said Iran knows it can’t hold its weight with the U.S. in a kinetic war. So it’s resulting in cyberattacks to flex some muscle. (TNND)

When it comes to cyber weapons, they can go anywhere in the world including anywhere in the United States,” said Cole.

Stryker confirmed the cyberattack this week, saying it disrupted its Microsoft environment, primarily deleting all information from employee laptops and cellphones. But the attack didn’t demand a ransom. A Stryker employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, told our station, WWMT, that they received a message from the company following the attack. “We are experiencing a severe, global disruption impacting all Stryker laptops and systems that connect to our network. EDT is working to resolve the issue,” part of the message read.

This to me was sort of a warning shot and now based on how the U.S. responds, this could get very interesting over the next week or two weeks,” Cole said.

Taking responsibility for the cyberattack, Handala wrote on ‘X’ that it acted out of retaliation for the military strike on an Iranian elementary school. The group also claimed over 200,000 systems, servers and mobile devices were wiped clean, along with 50 terabytes of critical data being extracted. Security expert David Kennedy told Fox News that, as the threat of more Iranian cyberattacks intensifies, he believes U.S. corporations are prepared.

So we’re prepared for this within the U.S. but it’s definitely not perfect and Iran is just looking for those little, tiny flaws within our infrastructure that they can use to create as much havoc as possible,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy added, as the war continues, Americans need to remain extra cautious.

Over this next few weeks to few months we need to be on high alert. Continue to step up our security game because we are going to see more attacks against the enterprise,” said Kennedy.

Stryker has explicitly stated that its critical medical products, like its surgical robots and LIFEPAK defibrillators, are completely safe to use and have not been compromised. As of Thursday night, its Microsoft environment is still crippled.