Ransomware attacks targeted the Barbie producer

Ransomware attacks targeted Toymaker Mattel Inc., the company that produces Barbie dolls and also the Hot Wheels cars. The company disclosed the information and mentioned it managed to reject the attack.

Encrypted data in the attack

According to the company’s representatives, the attack happened on July 28. Now, Toymaker Mattel Inc. made a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Still, they did not mention which kind of ransomware was involved.

“Mattel contained the attack and, although some business functions were temporarily impacted, Mattel restored its operations,” according to the filing.

Still, according to the investigation that happened immediately after, there was no evidence that any sensitive data had been stolen. Moreover, the company mentioned that there hadn’t been any material impact, as a result.

Ransomware attacks, every 11 seconds

According to BlackFog’s “The State of Ransomware 2020” research, this year, a ransomware would affect a business every 11 seconds. Moreover, they expect that next year, the damage costs from these attacks would reach about $20 billion.

Thus, a new record occurred in October, with over 40 such attacks. The month started with the affected Covid-19 trials and ended with the attack of the Ryuk ransomware gang. And the last one affected the US hospitals.

A notable situation

According to Boris Cipot, senior sales engineer at Synopsys Inc., “it is refreshing to see an organization recover from a cyberattack without major losses.” So, he believes that the company’s response managed to limit the attack.

Still, he mentioned that stories like these are not very common, because usually there are associated costs to such events.

He added that the company would agree to share the way they managed to stop the attack from causing more damage. Also, he said that it would be very useful for the others to learn how Mattel managed to recover so quickly.

But now, according to Cipot, “Sharing best practices in resilience management and response is crucial if we want to fight off attackers who often seem to be one step ahead of us.”