American toy maker Mattel announced today that it had suffered a ransomware that crippled some business systems. However, the company has recovered without any significant data loss from the cyber attack. The disclosure was part of a U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosure filed in late October.
The cyber attack was therefore initially successful and led to the encryption of some networks. Immediately after the cyber attack was discovered, Mattel began enforcing its security systems and taking a number of measures to stop the activites and restore the hacked networks. Mattel has contained the cyber activity and although some business functions were temporarily impacted.
Hackers Did Not Steal Any Sensible Business Data
An investigation carried out afterwards came to the result, according to the company, that the hackers had not stolen any sensible business information or from customers, suppliers and employees. Many hackers are now pursuing a two pronged method in which they not only encrypt information, but also install it onto their own servers in order to have another leverage against their victims.
Additionally, Mattel stated that the cyber attack did not have an impact on business networks. The company appears to have survived the incident with only a brief system failure and no serious damage.
Ransomware can lead to massive failures, which can severely reduce day to day business for companies and networks. This is exactly what hackers aim to achieve in order to extort the highest ransom money. In May, the company estimated the damage from a ransomware at 60 to 70 million dollars.
The company concluded that no sensitive information was filtered out. In addition, the company claims that no customer or employee detail of the business has been compromised either. Mattel did not disclose data of the ransomware involved in the hack, but the networks may have been involved after an intrusion.
