Boston Scientific discloses cyberattack disrupting operations, stock slides: what we know

A Massachusetts-based medical device maker, Boston Scientific, was hit with a cyberattack this week.

The medtech giant's disclosure sent shares of the $72 billion company lower, also disrupting operations.

The company made the disclosure through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, revealing that the attack is disrupting Boston Scientific’s access to company information systems and applications, including shipment services.

“While the company is working diligently to restore affected functions and systems access, the timeline for a full restoration is not yet known," the SEC filing revealed.

On premarket trading on Wednesday, August 26, company shares dropped to 5.8%.

The outage was first reported by Irish Examiner after reviewing company's internal memo sent over to more than 7,000 employees across Boston Scientific’s three Irish plants.

The email read, “We are currently experiencing a global outage affecting network communications across our Ireland sites and other locations worldwide.”

“Our local and global IT teams are actively working together to understand the issue and restore services as soon as possible. We will share a further update as soon as more information becomes available,” the email added.

Boston Scientific houses roughly 59,000 global employees, with more than 7,000 employed across its three key plants: Galway, Clonmel, and Cork, Ireland.

Boston Scientific reportedly sent home day shift employees at its Cork facility with full pay, while night shift staff are waiting for an official response on whether they should report to work, the outlet added.