Toymaker Mattel Inc., the company behind Barbie dolls, disclosed that it was targeted in a ransomware attack, but it managed to fend it off.

The ransomware attack was detected on July 28, according to a filing the company made today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While not disclosing which sort of ransomware was involved, Mattel said it caused data on a number of systems to be encrypted.

“Promptly upon detection of the attack, Mattel began enacting its response protocols and taking a series of measures to stop the attack and restore impacted systems,” the filing states. “Mattel contained the attack and, although some business functions were temporarily impacted, Mattel restored its operations.”

The company said a forensic investigation found no evidence that any sensitive business data or retail customer, supplier, consumer or employee data had been stolen. Further, Mattel noted that there had been no material impact to its operations or finances as a result of the attack.

That Mattel was able to overcome the ransomware attack is what makes this attack notable.

“It is refreshing to see an organization recover from a cyberattack without major losses,” Boris Cipot, senior sales engineer at electronic design automation company Synopsys Inc., told SiliconANGLE. “Mattel’s response to an initially successful breach managed to limit the attack and helped them regain control over their systems.”

Such a success story is not at all common, he said, since usually there’s a substantial business downtime and associated costs.

“I hope that Mattel will share how they sustain the resilience of their systems, and specifically, how they stopped this particular attack from causing more damage, as others could learn from them,” Cipot added. “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.”

Photo: Pixabay