Toymaker Mattel—maker of Barbie and Ken dolls – was the target of a ransomware attack past July on its information and facts technology devices and knowledge on a quantity of programs was encrypted.
The company mentioned in a new quarterly submitting that it experienced contained the attack and whilst some business features had been temporarily impacted, the security team restored its operations. According to the submitting, no delicate organization, retail client, supplier, buyer, or staff data was exfiltrated.
Though Mattel carries cyber and company continuity coverage, the company stated there’s no assurance that costs incurred as a consequence of this or any upcoming cyber activities would be covered completely. The toymaker did not supply details on the nature of the ransom, these kinds of as no matter if the criminals wished cash only or also threatened to expose details.
Colin Bastable, CEO of Lucy Security, mentioned the attack likely arrived as a final result of COVID-19 lockdowns that compelled Mattel team to get the job done remotely the place they are more commonly distracted, less easy to monitor and additional likely to fall for a cyber-attack.
“So the Mattel CISO and IT staff did their career perfectly, just like the frontline ‘ordinary heroes’ of the COVID-19 outbreak, as acknowledged by the Mattel Playroom #ThankYouHeroes action figure vary,” Bastable said. “As for the hackers – they’ll be again in the never-ending cybersecurity battle from a basement considerably, considerably absent.”
With the vacation period creeping up, there should be expectations that ransomware strategies will maximize,” Brandon Hoffman, CISO at Netenrich, mentioned most stores count greatly on on-line business and adversaries view this as an opportunity to attack.
“If they can cripple systems through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or other substantial buying similar gatherings, businesses may well be far more prepared to spend and get units back on the web,” Hoffman said. “It’s a matter of lost profits for service availability versus the value of the ransom.”
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