Medtronic got hacked, company reveals (MassDevice)
Medtech titan Medtronic reveals that it and 2 other device makers suffered cybersecurity breaches last year.
Medtronic revealed today that it was the target of a digital attack sometime in 2013, seeming to confirm rumors that circulated earlier this year regarding a hack of some of the medtech’s top players.
Medtronic reported in regulatory filings today that it and 2 other unnamed “large medical device manufacturers” were targeted by hackers appearing to originate from Asia. Those infiltrators didn’t breach any patient data, Medtronic assured regulators.
Medtronic offered few other details regarding the hack, but the disclosure seems to fall in line with an reports earlier this year that Chinese hackers targeted systems at Medtronic, Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) and St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ).
An anonymous source told the San Francisco Chronicle in February that the industry giants were quietly infiltrated in a hack that may have lasted for months. Healthcare companies with sensitive information are required to report cyber-breaches, but no reports were made in associated with that alleged breach.
Medtronic said in today’s filing that it cooperated with authorities in investigating its intrusion, but concluded that no patient data was affected.
In a separate incident at the company’s diabetes unit, some patient records also seem to have gone missing, although it doesn’t seem to be related to a hack, Medtronic said.
“While we found no evidence of a breach or inadvertent disclosure of the patient records, we were unable to locate them for retrieval,” according to the SEC filing. “The HHS Office of Civil Rights contacted us following the disclosure, as is their regular practice, and we have provided them information on the issue and our information security practices.”