Boston Scientific confirms cyberattack causing global disruption to medical device operations

The company said the incident “caused, and is expected to continue to cause, disruptions and limitations to access to certain of the company’s information systems and business applications that support aspects of the company’s operations, including the ability to process and ship customer orders.” It did not disclose the nature of the attack or the identity of the attackers, but the described disruption is often associated with ransomware infections. Businesses sometimes shut down parts of their infrastructure to stop data exfiltration, a common element of ransomware attacks.

Boston Scientific said it is working to restore affected functions and systems access, though the timeline for full restoration is not yet known. No hacking group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and there is no evidence of any stolen data.

The company, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Massachusetts, designs and manufactures devices used to diagnose health issues. Its core business areas include cardiology, endoscopy, urology and peripheral interventions. It operates in more than 100 countries and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It is considered one of the world’s largest medical device manufacturers, alongside Medtronic, Abbott and Johnson & Johnson MedTech.