The geopolitical wildfire of West Asia is spreading furiously and at break-neck speed triggered by the hard-nosed confrontation between the US-Israel axis and Iran. The war has apparently breached the conventional territorial limits and is escalating as a multi-front conflict espousing massive threat. The war that broke out with aerial confrontation, also led to ground intrusion. However, in the latest phase, the US-Israel and Iran face-off has stepped into the cyber and technological front, thus testifying the emerging nature of modern warfare.
As the density of the war spikes, in the latest escalation, the Iran-linked hacker group called as the Handala have unleashed a massive cyber attack on Stryker corporation, a US based one of the world’s largest medical technology giants. The company is specialised in manufacturing surgical robots, joint replacements, spinal implants and other operating room equipment that are critical in the hospital setup and larger medical sector. The Stryker Corporation, distributes medical devices to more than 79 countries across the globe.
Breach & theft of critical medical data
The cyber attack by Iran-linked Handala hackers has reportedly wiped around 2,00,000 systems and has extracted critical and confidential data worth 50 terabytes. The Stryker corporation and as well as the Wall Street Journal have confirmed the attack but has asserted that any ransomware or malware could not be detected. As the news of the cyber attack on the Stryker corporation broke out, apparently the stocks of the company crashed drastically. Several employees of Stryker reported that devices connected to the company network displayed the Handala logo and critical data was erased. Internal systems, email services and network tools went dark within minutes, the employees explained. The sudden shutdown disrupted softwares used for product design, manufacturing management and device testing.
Handala, is an Iran based hacking unit, associated with Tehran. However, it maintains operational independence, logic of deniability and distributed execution. Thus the theocracy of Tehran can clearly deny their involvement in the cyber attack on Stryker Corporation, despite having strategic benefit from such an attack, in terms of global economic disruption, choking critical supply chains related to healthcare, theft of confidential data and most importantly fueling geopolitical assertion in the conflict.
Will targeting a medtech giant yield victory for Iran?
The annual revenue of the Stryker Corporation, a medical tech giant is USD 22 billion. The Handala hackers consider attacking such a large medical company as a strategic victory against the US and Israel. The parent company of Handala hackers is Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, one of the world’s largest threat intelligence firms which is linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The Handala group is specialized in wiper malware, a software particularly designed to not just encrypt the data or breach it but to permanently destroy it.
The cyber attack is not just an attempt to breach or theft the data. It is a clear sign of geopolitical retaliation against the US and Israel. The US based medical tech giant is targeted with clear intentions, as a testament of solid geopolitical messaging. The Iran based hackers have not targeted any military establishment of the United States or its partner nations. Stryker is also not an defence manufacturing unit associated with the US or Israel. It is simply a medical industry manufacturing health devices. So, why did the Iran hackers launch a cyber attack on a medtech company? It is a profound retaliation embedded with a firm strategic message to the US and Israel.
The hackers who infused wiper attacks don’t aspire for money or any other material benefit. Instead, they aim at causing repressive and irreversible damage to the geopolitical reputation of the United States and their allies by permanently erasing the data from the system and destroying the operation systems. This type of cyber attack is called a “Wiper attack” and predominantly used during geopolitical confrontations. On the other hand, ransomeware or malware attacks are espoused for monetary demands. Handala aim to rupture the US in every front and in every way possible. Tehran is probably aiming to harm the American hegemony and blow a major backlash in every sector possible, from military to medical. A cyber attack on an American company that is critical to medical operations in more than 80 countries will indeed circulate a strong strategic assertion.
Israel-Iran war espousing multifront casualties: Igniting destability across globe
The Israel-US and Iran war was triggered with the pre-emptive strikes by Israel on Tehran on February 28. The conflict culminated at its peak when the US and Israel shot down Ayatollah Khamanie, the Supreme Leader of Iran. The intensity of war began to skyrocket, with Tehran unleashing retaliatory strikes across West Asia targeting US military establishments and other strategic zones including naval bases and airports. Iran bombarded bombs and missiles on UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and other countries in the gulf region. This territorial and aerial confrontation is the first and conventional front of the war.
Later, the war slipped into the energy domain. The strategic energy chokepoints and merchant/shipping vessels were targeted. For example, Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is also blowing US linked oil tankers and other merchant vessels, crude tankers flagged by various countries off the coast of Oman, Qatar etc. which is passing through the strategic passages of West Asia This escalation in the war across the critical energy sector can be considered as the second and most intense front of the war.
However, the war in the latest phase has ruptured all conventional limitations and has entered a more dense era, with repercussions in the cyber sector. The Iranian sources further warn of targeting big tech firms, financial institutions etc. linked to Washington DC. For example, the California Police warned the US Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) about the Iranian drones flying off the Pacific Coast and was alerted to stay vigilant. As per the geopolitical experts, every phase or new front of the war is more intense than the previous. From aerial strikes to energy & shipping bottlenecks to interdicting the threat on critical data, financial domain and even medical sector, every escalation is intense with serious geopolitical ramifications.
The Israel-US and Iran war has now reached every nook and corner of the country. 2,00,000 systems holding 50 terabytes of data pertaining to millions of patients in every country have been hijacked by the hackers. Every hospital, the patients and the entire medical ecosystem associated with Stryker Corporation is now affected. The hospital inventory networks are under severe threat now. The security of patients’ records, device specifications and surgical protocols are dwindling now at the hands of the hackers. The war has thus reached beyond the Strait of Hormuz and West Asia. The war is now in the cyber domain.
Thus, from the Strait of Hormuz to cyber space, the ripple effect of the West Asia crisis is multi-dimensional and is a solid evidence of the emerging nature of modern warfare that the players in the geopolitical chessboard have to be vigilant about! The war is gaining traction, its sphere of influence is spiralling and the basket of risks spike as West Asia and the entire geopolitical latitude remains bewildered with no sign of restraint, de-escalation and dialogue.
