Iran appears to have conducted a significant cyberattack against a U.S. company, a first since the war started
The company, Stryker, said a cyberattack disrupted its “Microsoft environment.”
An Iran-linked hacker group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on a medical tech company in what appears to be the first significant instance of Iran’s hacking an American company since the start of the war between the countries.
The company, Stryker, which is headquartered in Michigan, produces a range of medical equipment and technology.
Historically, Iran has conducted some of the most infamous “wiper” cyberattacks on national enemies, aiming to simply erase all data on computers’ networks. Victims include Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, in 2012, and the Sands Casino in 2014.
Since the war started, some established hacker groups sympathetic to Iranian leadership have claimed minor attacks, but most have been relegated to briefly altering the appearance of a website, and none have appeared to have had major impact. Some tech and cybersecurity companies, including Google, and the email cybersecurity company Proofpoint have told NBC News that they have largely seen Iran’s hackers conducting espionage related to the war.
But that appears to have changed Wednesday, with what appears to have been a different type of attack that also deleted information from devices. A Stryker employee, who requested to not be identified because they are not authorized to speak for the company, said that employee’s work-issued phones stopped working, grinding work and communications with colleagues to a standstill.
Handala Team has claimed responsibility for the Stryker hack in statements on its Telegram and X accounts. The group routinely brags about its exploits on the social media platforms, which have in recent days taken down previous versions of their accounts.
Specifics of how the hack was conducted are not clear. But public evidence of the hack points to the likelihood that hackers gained access to the company’s Microsoft Intune account, which the employee confirmed Stryker uses. From there, Handala appears to have wiped some employees’ devices back to factory settings, an expert said.
“They seem to have obtained access to the Microsoft Intune management console. This is a solution for managing corporate devices,” said Rafe Pilling, the director of threat intelligence at the cybersecurity company Sophos, which has tied Handala to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.
“One of the features is the ability to remotely wipe a device if it’s lost/stolen etc. Looks like they triggered that for some or all of the enrolled devices,” he said in a written exchange.
Microsoft’s website describes the remote wipe feature as “commonly used when a device needs to be retired, repurposed, reset for troubleshooting, or securely erased if lost or stolen.”
In a statement on its website Wednesday, Stryker said that the disruption was due to a cyberattack but that its own systems were not directly hacked and that ransomware — a common type of cybercrime that can also significantly disrupt companies’ networks — was not a factor.
“Stryker is experiencing 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 statement said.
The company did not respond to a request for further details. Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
IbrahimSola: Surely whoever posted this report is a learner. People should endeavor to provide back stories to their posts. The OP should have included what the guy tweeted.
You are a learner if you did not see the links to previous posts. You are in fact at infant level if you think I'm going to post tweets that break the law.
Since some people are asking why the DSS could track Affan yet (according to these people) they can't track bandits, Boko Haram, etc. I think I should quote my posts about tracking again.
(This is really just an excuse to post Mike Ozekhome's story again).
Some people complain that the DSS could track down Aminu Mohammed, yet they can't track down kidnappers, bandits and terrorists. This statement doesn't make sense to me. In fact this is false equivalence to me.
Firstly, let's get one thing out of the way, Aminu Mohammed was not arrested by the DSS. However, that's not important in this discussion.
Secondly, this is the reason that I say that it is false equivalence. Aminu Mohammed is just a student who tweeted something. He probably never thought that he would be arrested or that his tweet would have such an impact, therefore, he didn't bother to hide his location or identity.
On the other hand, terrorists, bandits and kidnappers know that the authorities are out to get them and so they go to great lengths to hide their identity and location.
A good example is the case of Mike Ozekhome.
Mike Ozekhome is a well known lawyer and human rights activist. He was kidnapped in 2013 and he appeared on Good Morning Nigeria on the NTA after he was released. He told a very interesting story when he appeared on the programme.
Kingsley and Claire asked him how he was, what happened at the point that he was kidnapper, etc, but there was something else that they didn't ask him, but he took time to explain in detail.
The kidnappers allowed him to speak to his relatives and he explained how this was done. A kidnapper would take Mr Ozekhome's phone and another phone and go far away from their camp, to the middle of nowhere. The batteries of the phones would have already been removed.
The kidnapper would get to a place, put the batteries in the phones and use one phone to call the kidnappers' camp and use Mike Ozekhome's phone to call his relatives. He would then put both phones on speaker. This was how Mike Ozekhome could speak to his relatives.
When he was done, the kidnapper would remove both batteries and quickly leave the area.
What this meant was that the authorities could not use sim registration to identify Ozekhome's kidnappers, because they used his phone to call his relatives, and they could not catch the kidnappers by triangulating their location, because they didn't make the call from their camp.
Obviously Aminu Mohammed would not go to such lengths to hide his identity and location.
naptu2: Besides, the authorities have tracked down and arrested many terrorists, bandits and kidnappers (both within and outside the country). The people that kidnapped Mr Ozekhome were eventually arrested. Some examples include Kabiru Sokoto, Hamisu Bala (Wadume), Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (Evans), etc.
naptu2: There is a third part of this series that I have not yet had the time to write.
naptu2: This is part of the third part of the series on kidnappers and tracking people's phones that I wanted to write. I have shown (using the Ozekhome example) that it is not easy to track kidnappers.
Therefore, people have asked me, why do we have SIM registration, BVN, NIN, etc, when it's not easy to use them to track kidnappers?
The answer is that many criminals have been caught using SIM registration, BVN, NIN, etc. Even the criminals that are difficult to track can still be apprehended or curtailed using those methods. I will explain in detail this night, but read this example.
I have followed the news very closely for more than 40 years and that's why it was easy for me to notice this trend and to figure out what was causing it.
There was a time that kidnapped people were regaining their freedom. They were not rescued by the security forces, yet they were regaining their freedom because of the security forces.
Quite often, when there's a crime, the media would focus a lot of attention on it for a short period and then move on. The crime would be talked about by the public and then everybody would move on. I don't move on, I usually follow the reports in detail. So, for example, many people will easily remember that there was a major robbery incident in Lekki in 2015, but few people will remember that the robbers were caught a few months later and fewer people will remember what the robbers told journalists about their operation. I remember all of that.
So I noticed that kidnapped people were regaining their freedom and I remembered what they said about how they became free.
There were instances when the kidnapped people said that they had been held in a camp for a while and then, all of a sudden, the kidnappers began moving them around and then, eventually, the kidnappers abandoned them and they found their way to freedom.
Some kidnapped people said that they noticed aircraft (usually helicopters or fighter jets) regularly flying past their location before the kidnappers abandoned them.
Some of the hostages actually said that there was pressure from the security forces and they heard the kidnappers talking about it before they were abandoned in the bush.
Taking that information and linking it to what Mike Ozekhome said, I suspect that the security services were triangulating the location of the phones that were used to make ransom demands. Mike Ozekhome said that a kidnapper would take his phone and another phone to another location and call from there (using the speaker function to connect both phones). Well, if the security forces regularly triangulate the location of those calls, then they will have a general area to patrol. They won't get the location of the kidnappers, because the calls were not made from the kidnapper's location, but they would have a general idea of the region in which the kidnapper is operating and by patrolling that region, they would be able to put pressure on the kidnapper.
If a kidnapper notices that there are more aerial patrols around his location, if, when he goes to buy food and other necessities, he notices that there are more ground patrols, then he might feel that it is safer to distance himself from the hostages, so that he won't be caught with them.
Lastly, things like SIM registration, NIN and BVN are also very important because not every criminal is clever and good at hiding his tracks and those measures will help the security forces to apprehend those criminals, such as the one in the last example below.
naptu2: The last time that I wrote about the way that criminal groups communicate, I was referring to bandits and kidnappers. I wasn't really thinking about terrorists. Of course terrorists use more sophisticated methods.
I often wrote about it in 2011-2016, I haven't written about it recently, but it's now time to update my posts.
Terrorists often use satellite phones to communicate. Back then I referred to Thuraya satellite phones which were popular in Nigeria in the 2000s and 2010s. These phones do not use the regular cell towers (they communicate directly with satellites) so it's difficult for phone companies to track them. They can also avoid sim registration regulations.
Well, now there are reports that the terrorists are using Starlink systems for communication. These perform the same functions as satellite phones but they are cheaper and easier to use.
wirinet: What of what Boko Haram, ISWAP, Bandits, etc has not only been tweeting, but displaying on social media? Bandits actually demand ransoms through social media, and DSS never deem it important enough to use their skills and resources to track and arrest them. They only go after insignificant soft targets.
Ignorance is not a good look.
If you think that the DSS has not arrested terrorists, bandits, etc then nobody on Nairaland can help you and you might need to seek medical help.
The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) hereby notifies the general public that a simulation exercise for a movie production titled “Headless” will be taking place tomorrow Thursday, March 12, 2026.
This activity is strictly part of a controlled film production exercise, and members of the public are advised not to panic if they notice unusual movements or activities on the waterways during this period.
LASWA assures Lagos Inland Waterways users that necessary safety measures have been put in place for the exercise.
Signed Management Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA)
sweerychick: please provide a link I want to see his tweets
That's why I posted links to previous threads. OK, I'll create a background post here.
Background
Abubakar Affan describes himself as a former soldier. He is a known critic of the Tinubu Administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu. He is also a major supporter of Hamas.
He has created many posts filled with threats against the Tinubu Government and Benjamin Nethanyahu. Those posts are too terrible and sensitive for me to share here.
DSS Tells Court Kaduna Man’s Tweet About Israeli PM Netanyahu Could Drag Nigeria Into Israel-Iran-Type Conflict
In the counter-affidavit opposing the defendant’s bail application, a DSS operative, Jones Gabriel, told the court that he was directly involved in the investigation that led to the arrest.
Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS), has told a court that a tweet posted by a Nigerian citizen could potentially trigger an international conflict involving Nigeria, drawing comparisons to the ongoing hostility between Israel and Iran.
The claim was made in a counter-affidavit filed by the DSS before the Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Kaduna in the case between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Abubakar Adamu, a social media user whose X account is identified as @AbbakarAffan.
SaharaReporters learnt that Adamu was tracked, arrested and subsequently arraigned after authorities accused him of making posts on social media considered threatening in relation to the Middle East conflict.
In the counter-affidavit opposing the defendant’s bail application, a DSS operative, Jones Gabriel, told the court that he was directly involved in the investigation that led to the arrest.
"That, I am a personnel of the State Security Service (aka DSS) attached to the Kaduna State Command and the office detailed to handle investigations by virtue of which I am conversant with the facts of this matter,” Gabriel stated.
He also said the agency opposed bail because the suspect had allegedly admitted the charges after investigators confronted him with evidence obtained from his social media activity.
“The Complainant/Respondent denies paragraph 5 of the Defendant/Applicant’s affidavit and states categorically that he admitted the charges against him after he was confronted with overwhelming evidence,” the affidavit read.
The DSS further told the court that the charges against the defendant were serious and could attract severe punishment.
“The defendant/applicant is facing serious charges for offences which are not ordinarily bailable including offence that carries life imprisonment upon conviction,” the agency stated.
According to the DSS, one of the central allegations against the defendant relates to comments he posted on X concerning the leadership of Israel.
The agency claimed that Adamu used his account to make an inciting post calling for the elimination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“One of the offences established against the Defendant/Applicant was arrested for involves posting of inciting comment on his X handle calling for the elimination of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the DSS stated.
The agency went further to claim that the post had the potential to escalate beyond social media and create international diplomatic consequences.
“Such post could lead to international conflict involving Nigeria, similar to the on-going hostility between Israel and Iran with its attendant destruction,” the affidavit said.
The DSS argued that allowing the defendant to regain freedom while the case was ongoing would pose a threat to national security.
In the affidavit, the secret police also made a series of allegations regarding the defendant’s past activities and associations.
The agency told the court that Adamu had previously threatened individuals who disagreed with him on religious or ideological issues.
“Based on the findings of their investigation, the Defendant/Applicant is not a person of good character as he has record of threatening to kill people who expresses a dissenting religious or ideological view from his, and derives pleasure in the death of others,” the affidavit stated.
The DSS further claimed that the defendant maintained links with foreign actors.
“The antecedents of the Defendant/Applicant shows that he has links with foreign intelligence Service who are using him to recruits Nigerians to fight in foreign military services in Countries like Ukraine and Russia,” the security agency said.
According to the agency, the suspect had also travelled outside Nigeria in connection with those alleged activities.
“The Defendant/Applicant having gone to Benghazi in Libya, and Egypt in pursuit of his activities, might likely abscond to those countries if granted bail,” it said.
The DSS insisted before the court that the defendant should remain in custody because he might evade trial.
“The Defendant/Applicant is not likely to make himself present for his trial if granted bail,” the affidavit stated.
The agency also attempted to reassure the court about its conduct in the investigation.
“The Complainant/Respondent is a responsible Federal Government organization that carries out its official duties in accordance with the rule of law and directives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the leadership of the President and Commander in chief of the Armed Forces,” it said.
She also stated that Nigerian officials are waiting at the border to receive nationals fleeing the ongoing war, adding that no Nigerian casualties have been recorded.
by Beloved John March 11, 2026
The Nigerian government has begun evacuating Nigerians in Iran, with officials accompanying them across the Armenian border as the US and Israel’s war with Iran continues. The head of the Nigeria in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a post on Tuesday, said citizens willing to leave are being safely escorted out of the country through the border.
She also stated that Nigerian officials are waiting at the border to receive nationals fleeing the ongoing war, adding that no Nigerian casualties have been recorded.
“Willing Nigerians are being escorted across the Armenian border by officials of the Nigerian embassy in Iran for safe passage.
“No Nigerian in Iran has been affected by the war as officials remain at the border to receive all who went to leave #israeliranwar #wariniran,” she said.
She did not provide the exact number of Nigerians in Iran or the number of people who had already been evacuated.
The evacuation efforts come 11 days into the war that has caused the death of over 1,300 people, and injured and displaced several others.
According to the Iranian Ministry of Health, US and Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,300 people in Iran, with over 12,000 others injured.
Iran reported that the victims’ ages ranged from eight months to 88 years old. It noted that about 200 women are among those killed, including the 168 Minab elementary school girls.
Similarly, about 55 healthcare workers were wounded and 11 killed, including four physicians, two nurses, and three emergency workers.
Israel’s health ministry also reported that at least 13 Israelis have been killed and 1,929 others wounded due to barrages of Iranian fire into the country since the war began.
Eight US soldiers have been confirmed dead, while Lebanon has reported 394 deaths, including 83 children, caused by Israeli attacks.
Lebanon also said more than half a million people have been displaced during a week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the war with Iran will be over “very soon,” but made it clear it won’t be this week.
But the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), in response to Mr Trump, said Iranians, not the Americans, would “determine the end of the war.”
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also declared that there was no room to discuss a ceasefire while military attacks by the US and Israel continue.
“We are on the eleventh day of military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime. We did not start this war,” he said at a news conference.
Never been this helpless before in my life😫 9days stuck in Qatar with my family and other Nigerians who were on transit, countries have picked up their citizens from here it’s mostly Nigerians that are left! We have called Embassy and Consulate yet no postive response
Every Nigerian here just feels helpless,the passport can’t even get us a Saudi visa! to atleast leave from here,once you click Nigerian it stops even with a Uk visa. This situation is a highly Diplomatic situation but we seem to not have a strong diplomatic relations
For the repatriation flight, for how long are we going to have to wait for? We need help here, there are really old people here with us and children. @abikedabiri @NigeriaMFA @firstladyship @ruffydfire
Dear Onyeka Sorry about this situation Aftermath of wars usually unpredictableThese are the emergency numbers for, Doha, Mobile: +97430197102 +97430197261. You can please e mail us on admin@nidcom.gov.ng .or dm our official handle @nidcom_gov. For follow up
And as for repatriation flights the skies are currently unsafe to fly. Luckily a flight came in from the UAE to Lagos two days ago just before another strike and closure of the Air Space.Once the air space opens , the multi agency fgn team on crises and evacuation are on standby Our prayers with you and all our people in affected countries
The Nigerian government has demonstrated commendable proactive leadership and dedication to citizen welfare amid the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
Willing Nigerians in Iran are being safely escorted across the Armenia border by officials from the Nigerian Embassy in Tehran, ensuring smooth and secure passage for those wishing to leave. Reassuringly, no Nigerian in Iran has been affected by the conflict so far, with government officials remaining stationed at the border to receive and assist all evacuees.
This swift coordination working closely with Armenian authorities to facilitate safe exit routes highlights the Federal Government's commitment to protecting its citizens abroad during crises.
The Federal Government is vigilant and effectively responding to the safety and well-being of Nigerians across the world.
Willing Nigerians being escorted across the Armenian border by officials of the Nigerian embassy in Iran for safe passage.No Nigerian in Iran has been affected by the war as officials remain at the border to receive all who went to leave #israeliranwar #wariniran
Foreign Affairs › Iranian Hackers Attack Stryker, A US Company by naptu2(op): 11:29am On Mar 12
so Iran or Israel go begin fight Nigeria because of one noentity that even most Nigerians never heard of?