Boston Scientific Targeted in Cyberattack

Boston Scientific Corp. is working to restore its systems after a cyberattack triggered a network outage and disrupted its business operations.

The medtech behemoth detected the incident on Aug. 25 and is investigating the attack’s source, though its full scope and nature is not yet known. In an online announcement, Boston Scientific said the cyberattack has impacted certain operating systems and business applications, but it did not provide specifics on the affected operations.

“On August 25, Boston Scientific identified a cybersecurity incident affecting certain information technology systems that resulted in a network outage and disruption to the company’s operations,” the announcement read. “Once detected, the company activated incident response protocols and began an investigation to assess and contain the threat with the assistance of third-party cybersecurity experts. The incident has impacted access to certain operating systems and business applications, including the ability to process and ship customer orders.”

Full restoration of the affected operations is still unknown. Boston Scientific said it is working “diligently” to restore affected functions and systems access.

The incident is the latest in a string of cyberattacks that have hit the healthcare sector this year. A pro-Palestinian hactivist group incapacitated Stryker Corp.’s internal digital network in an early March cyberattack that erased files and data from systems linked to the company’s Microsoft Windows environment. The incident temporarily disrupted the company’s manufacturing, ordering, and shipping capabilities, and prompted several lawsuits over the theft of sensitive employee data.  

As Stryker finished bringing its hacked systems back online, Medtronic plc came under attack in mid-April. A threat group called ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the incident and said it stole more than 9 million records containing personally identifiable information.

West Pharmaceutical Services was the next target, suffering a ransomware attack in early May that impacted critical systems including manufacturing, receiving, and shipping at certain locations.

Novo Nordisk reportedly lost more than 1 terabyte of data and certain system safeguards to hackers over several weeks in June, and three Clover Health employee email accounts were compromised in July through social engineering. The same scam gave an outside party access to certain Cook Medical systems, but the company quickly identified the unauthorized access and contained it on the same day it occurred. Abbott was targeted in July as well, with threat groups impacting its LabCentral portal and legacy Exact Sciences systems (the latter within its cancer diagnostics business).