Medical Supply leader, Styker, announced a network disruption potentially linked to a Pro-Iranian group. Cyber Security Expert, Richard Siciliano, says although the business was affected, he doesn’t think the industry is necessarily vulnerable.
“Attacks like this, affect the company itself- its ability to access its own networks at times, but I don’t think it actually affects the patients.” Siciliano said.
Stryker will issue notifications he says and will alert consumers how to proceed going forward. The medical device company announced it would close one day as they were mitigating the network issue.
Siciliano says the U.S. government has long time been a gate keeper preventing countries like Russia and China from back door access. As they don’t allow many governmental agencies to use various China and Russia devices or applications.
“If it’s made in China, if it’s made in Russia- and it’s a form of technology that could be manipulated by those countries and their governments' this is a valid concern and Americans should be cautious. " He said.
Stryker later reported a Pro-Iranian hacktivist group went onto social media claiming responsibility for the cyberattack.
The hackers, who alleged Stryker was a "Zionist-rooted corporation," claimed 200,000 systems were affected and 50 terabytes of data were extracted.
Siciliano says the Iranians will do anything to disrupt American lives, and it’s nothing more than a publicity stunt by a terrorist regime.