Photo: seksan Mongkhonkhamsao / Moment / Getty Images
A pro-Iran hacking group known as Handala has claimed responsibility for a significant cyberattack on the U.S. medical technology company, Stryker. The attack, which occurred on Wednesday (March 11), disabled thousands of employee devices, including cellphones and laptops, and disrupted Stryker's global operations. The hackers, in a message posted on an X account, stated that the attack was in retaliation for a recent U.S. military strike on a school in Tehran, Iran, which resulted in numerous casualties.
Many of Stryker's systems worldwide were wiped, and some login pages displayed the hacker group's logo. The attack reportedly compromised over 200,000 systems and extracted 50 terabytes of critical data. Stryker's offices in 79 countries were forced to shut down as a result.
Stryker, which supplies medical devices to the U.S. military, has no direct link to the recent attacks on Iran but does have operations in Israel. A Stryker spokesperson told TechCrunch that they are experiencing a global network disruption and are working to restore systems and operations quickly. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is investigating the incident and providing technical assistance.
Handala, which emerged after an attack on Israel in October 2025, has targeted various sectors, including healthcare and energy, using tactics like phishing and data theft. The group aims to create disruptive and psychological impacts through its operations, as noted by the IBM X-Force Exchange.