Boston Scientific is one of 760 firms hit by China-based cyber attacks.
Med-tech titan Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) was one of 760 companies hit by Chinese cyber attacks that also targeted U.S. government agencies, research universities and Internet providers.
It's not clear whether the Natick, Mass.-based medical device maker lost any sensitive information in the attack.
"We're talking about stealing entire industries," Scott Borg, director of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, told the news service. "This may be the biggest transfer of wealth in a short period of time that the world has ever seen."The attacks were aimed at the medical device, biotechnology, clean energy, advanced semiconductor, high-end manufacturing and information technology industries, according toBloomberg.
Along with BSX, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) Wyeth subsidiary were victims. The Chinese government is denying responsibility for the attacks.
The cyber-warfare is just the latest item in a string of bad luck for Boston Scientific, which got hit with a half-billion-dollar tax bill from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service last week.
The latest tab, for $581 million plus interest and penalties, comes out of an IRS audit of Boston Scientific's 2006 acquisition of pacemaker firm Guidant Corp.
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