MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY GLOBAL giant Stryker, which has factories in Cork, Limerick and Belfast, has been struck in an apparent pro-Iran hacktivist incident. 

It is understood workers at the US-owned company’s Cork plant, located in Carrigtwohill near Cobh, were informed this morning of the hack, which was impacting their work computers. 

Security sources here have confirmed to The Journal that it is believed that a group known as Handala had hacked the company’s systems.

An unconfirmed statement circulating during the day suggested the group had taken the action in response to the bombing of a school in Iran which killed at least 165 people, including children. 

It said it had closed down 79 Stryker offices across the world and had taken possession of data harvested from the company. 

The Wall Street Journal said that outages began on the East Coast of America and spread globally. 

The hack impacted remote devices which used Microsoft Windows operating systems. This included mobile phones, laptops and other technology that was configured to connect to Stryker’s systems.

In a statement provided to The Journal, the company said:

“Stryker is experiencing a global network disruption to our Microsoft environment as a result of a cyber attack. We have no indication of ransomware or malware and believe the incident is contained.

“Our teams are working rapidly to understand the impact of the attack on our systems.

“Stryker has business continuity measures in place to continue to support our customers and partners.

“We are committed to transparency and will keep stakeholders informed as we know more.”

Security sources have said that the Iranian state and groups linked to the regime are seen as a major security threat across the world. They are well known as very capable offensive hackers. 

More than 4,000 people are employed at the Cork site.