Iran-linked Group Claims Cyberattack On U.S. MedTech Giant Stryker

An Iran-linked hacking group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack targeting Stryker, a major U.S. medical technology company, saying it extracted about 50 terabytes of data in retaliation for recent military strikes on Iran.

The group, known as Handala, announced the operation on Wednesday, describing it as a successful cyber campaign against the company.

“Our major cyber operation has been executed with complete success,” the group said, adding that the stolen data was now “in the hands of the free people of the world.”

Handala said the attack was carried out in response to what it described as a “brutal attack on the Minab school” in Iran, where authorities reported that more than 150 people were killed.

The hackers also said the operation was retaliation for what they called continued cyberattacks against the “Axis of Resistance,” a network of armed groups aligned with Tehran.

In response, Stryker confirmed it was experiencing a disruption across its global network linked to its Microsoft environment following a cyber incident.

The company said there was no indication that ransomware or malware had been deployed and that the situation appeared to be contained.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the outages began shortly after 0400 GMT on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Cybersecurity analysts say Handala has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on Israeli and Gulf-region companies, with researchers at Check Point describing it as one of the most notable hacking groups linked to the Iranian regime.

The group also claimed it carried out a separate cyberattack on payment technology firm Verifone, though the company said it had found no evidence of a breach or disruption to its services.