Medical Tech Company Investigating Potential Cyber Security Incident
Note: We may earn a commission from products or services when you click on a link and make a purchase.
Medical technology Olympus Group says that the company is investigating a cyber security incident. A post on the Olympus Global website states the company has detected “suspicious activity and has stopped data transfers.”
Olympus Corporation is a 100 year-old Japanese manufacturer of optics and reprography products. Olympus OTCMKTS: OCPNY makes medical devices, microscopes, and non-destructive testing (NDT) instruments. Olympus no longer makes cameras, audio recorders, and binoculars.
The cyber attack impacts the company’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) IT systems.
“Upon detection of suspicious activity, we immediately mobilized a specialized response team including forensics experts, and we are currently working with the highest priority to resolve this issue,” says a post on the Olympus website.
Earlier this year, Colonial Pipeline was hit by a week-long high-profile ransomware attack. The gas supplier ended up paying hackers to restore control of their systems.
According to the tech website TechCrunch, the company is actually investigating a ransomware attack. The attack reportedly began on September 8. According to the post, attackers from BlackMatter ransomware group left a ransom note.
BlackMatter is a ransomware-as-a-service group (RAS) that is a successor to DarkSide ransomware group. RAS is a type of ransomware model where a group writes and maintains the malware and licenses it to other hackers for a cut of the ransom payment.
The note read, “Your network is encrypted, and not currently operational,” it reads. “If you pay, we will provide you the programs for decryption,” according to TechCrunch.
“We are currently working to determine the extent of the issue and will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available,” says the update from Olympus.
