Stryker cyber attack leaves thousands of Irish staff unable to work
A sophisticated cyber attack, believed to be orchestrated by an Iranian-backed hacker collective, has brought a US medical technology firm's worldwide operations to a grinding halt, leaving thousands of Irish workers unable to carry out their duties.All IT infrastructure at Stryker, which has 4,000 staff at its Cork facility, remains offline.The breach is understood to have occurred during the night and has impacted the company's operations across Europe, Asia, and the US.Most work devices, including personal mobile phones with a Stryker work profile, have been wiped by cybercriminals, reports the Irish Mirror.In a communication to staff at the Cork site, Stryker stated: "We are experiencing a severe, global disruption impacting all Stryker laptops and systems that connect to our network."In a separate briefing sent to colleagues in Asia, Stryker noted: "At this time, the root cause has not yet been identified. We are actively engaged with Microsoft and treating this a critical, enterprise-wide incident."It's understood many suspect the most likely perpetrator of the attack is Handala, a pro-Palestinian Iranian-backed hacker group.The collective has previously targeted companies based in Israel.A source revealed: "Nobody can work. The entire company has been brought to a standstill. Nobody has any idea what is going on. This is going to have a huge knock-on effect."Globally, Stryker operates across 61 countries and employs more than 56,000 people. Its Cork facility is the largest site outside of the US.Gardai and Stryker have been contacted for comment.Want to see more of the stories you love from Dublin Live? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Dublin Live as a preferred source, simply click here.
