Attackers Target Major Health Device Manufacturer

Bad actors have recently turned their sights on Artivion, a heart surgery medical device manufacturer. The company disclosed they were the subject of a ransomware attack that occurred on November 21, and the attack was severe enough to both affect daily functions, and force the company to move certain parts of its network offline.

In a 8-K filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said in addition to taking these systems offline, it also started an investigation and reached out to legal, cybersecurity, and forensics professionals to help them fix the issue. The company never specified this was a ransomware attack, but it did say attackers encrypted certain systems, while stealing data from other affected systems. Artivion says it is working on restoring these systems as soon as possible.

In addition, the company claims most of the disruptions to typical operations, processing orders, and shipping products are now resolved, while its insurance will reimburse some, but not all, expenses spent on addressing this attack, as Artivion believes it will need to spend more on resources the insurance will not cover.

Artivion’s reach is wide: the company currently has over 1,250 employees across the globe, including reps in over 100 countries. Bleeping Computer believes attackers will claim responsibility for this attack if Artivion does not meet their demands soon.