Depending on the corrective action we take to redress a product’s deficiencies or defects, the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory authority may require, or we may decide, that we will need to obtain new approvals or clearances for the device before we may market or distribute the corrected device. Seeking such approvals or clearances may delay our ability to replace the recalled devices in a timely manner. Moreover, we may face additional regulatory enforcement action, including FDA warning letters, product seizure, injunctions, administrative penalties, civil penalties or criminal fines. We may also be required to bear other costs or take other actions that may have a negative impact on our sales as well as face material adverse publicity or regulatory consequences, which could harm our business, including our ability to market our products in the future.
Any adverse event involving our products, whether in the United States or abroad, could result in future voluntary corrective actions, such as recalls or customer notifications, or agency action, such as inspection, mandatory recall, orders of repair, replacement or refund or other enforcement action. Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as defending ourselves in a lawsuit, will require the dedication of our time and capital and may harm our reputation and financial results.
We rely on third parties and our own systems for interaction with our customers and suppliers and employees, and a failure of a key information technology system, process or site or any other failure or interruption in the services provided by these third parties or our own systems could have a material adverse impact on our ability to conduct business.
We rely extensively on our information technology systems and systems and services provided by third parties to interact with our employees and our customers and suppliers. These interactions include, but are not limited to, ordering and managing materials from suppliers, converting materials to finished products, shipping product to customers, processing transactions, summarizing and reporting results of operations, transmitting data used by our service personnel and by and among our wide-spread personnel and facilities, complying with regulatory, legal and tax requirements, and other processes necessary to manage our business. We do not control our third-party service providers and we do not maintain redundant systems for some of such services, increasing our vulnerability to problems with such services. If the systems on which we rely are damaged or cease to function properly due to any number of causes, ranging from failures of our third-party service providers to catastrophic events, to power outages, to security breaches, we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage operations which may adversely impact our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.
We could suffer a loss of revenue and increased costs, exposure to significant liability, reputational harm, and other serious negative consequences if we sustain cyber-attacks or other data security breaches that disrupt our operations or result in the dissemination of proprietary or confidential information about us or our customers, suppliers, or other third parties.
We manage and store proprietary, sensitive and confidential data related to our business operations. We may be subject to cyber-attacks and breaches of the information technology systems we use for these purposes. Experienced programmers and hackers may be able to penetrate our network security and misappropriate or compromise our confidential information or that of third parties, create system disruptions, or cause shutdowns. Hackers may also be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms, malware, ransomware and other malicious software programs that attack our systems or otherwise exploit security vulnerabilities in our systems and/or products. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we produce or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacturing, including “bugs” and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation of our systems or products. Cyber-threats vary in technique, are persistent, frequently change, and increasingly are more sophisticated, targeted, and difficult to detect or prevent.
We expend significant capital and resources to protect against the threat of security breaches, including cyber-attacks, viruses, worms, malware, ransomware and other malicious software programs. Substantial additional expenditures may be required before or after a cyber-attack to mitigate or alleviate problems caused by the unauthorized access, theft of data stored within our information systems, or the introduction of computer malware or ransomware to our environment. Our remediation efforts may not be successful, and there could be interruptions, delays, or cessation of service due to cyber-attachs or other data security breaches.
We often identify attempts to gain unauthorized access to our systems. Given the rapidly evolving nature and proliferation of cyber threats, there can be no assurance that our employee training, operational, and other technical security measures or other controls will detect, prevent or remediate security or data breaches in a timely manner or otherwise prevent unauthorized access, damage, or interruption of our systems and operations. We are likely to face attempted cyber-attacks in the future. Accordingly, we may be vulnerable to losses associated with the improper functioning, security breach, or unavailability of our information systems as well as any systems used in acquired operations.
In addition, breaches of our security measures and the unapproved use or disclosure of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data about us or our suppliers, customers or other third parties could expose us or any such affected third party to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, result in litigation and potential liability for us, damage our brand and reputation or otherwise harm our business, even if we were not responsible for the breach. Furthermore, we are exposed to additional risks because we rely in certain capacities on third-party software, data management, and cloud service providers with possible security problems and security vulnerabilities beyond our control. Media or other reports of perceived security vulnerabilities to our systems or those of our third-party suppliers, even if no breach has been attempted or occurred, could adversely impact our brand and reputation and materially impact our business.