MathWorks, the developer of the popular software Matlab and Simulink, recently reported a cyber attack using extortion software that affected thousands of users. The incident took place in the spring of 2025, but the full scale of the attack was only recently discovered from documents submitted to the General Prosecutor’s office in the state of Maine. More than 10 thousand people had their personal information compromised as a result.
The company, with an annual income of $1.5 billion and over five million Matlab users worldwide, detected the breach on May 18. Some services remained inaccessible for nearly a week, causing significant inconvenience to customers. No known group has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding to the concern surrounding the incident.
An investigation revealed that the attackers had gained access to internal systems a month prior to detection, starting on April 17. During this time, they were able to gather a significant amount of information. MathWorks enlisted the help of third-party digital forensics experts to contain the breach, remove malicious code, and fully restore the compromised infrastructure.
It was confirmed that the attackers accessed confidential user data, including names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers for US citizens, and national identification numbers for customers in other countries. The specifics of the stolen data varied for each victim, but those whose personal identifiers were compromised are at a heightened risk of identity theft.
While there have been no confirmed cases of unlawful use of the stolen information or financial harm to users, MathWorks is offering free identity monitoring services to those affected. Customers are also urged to monitor their financial accounts closely and report any suspicious activity promptly.
This incident underscores the vulnerability of even large technology companies that serve millions of users globally to extortion attacks. For MathWorks, the repercussions went beyond a potential data breach to include temporary service disruptions, impacting research and engineering projects reliant on Matlab and Simulink.