Is cyberattack on U.S. health care firm the next phase of the Iran war?

Some experts say that a cyberwar through 'proxies' may be the next stage of the Iran war, with civilian infrastructure also coming under threat.

Major U.S. health care technology company Stryker became the victim of a cyberattack, with a group linked to Iran claiming responsibility.

Some experts say that this war of “proxies” may be the next stage of the Iran war, and warn that civilian and critical infrastructure could also come under threat.

The Michigan-based company, with 56,000 employees and operations in 61 countries, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the attack caused disruptions and limitations of access to some systems, and that the timeline for a full restoration is not yet known.

“Stryker is responding to 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,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

While the attack seems to have been limited to the internal network of the company, medical service providers are part of a complex healthcare network, said Ali Dehghantanha, Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity and threat intelligence and a professor at the University of Guelph.

“An attack against them would have a ripple impact on hospitals and the healthcare,” he said.

This illustrates how “modern wars are not only fought with missiles and tanks,” Dehghantanha said.

“Modern wars are increasingly fought through code targeting the digital infrastructure that societies relies on,” he said.