Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, And More Hit In Global Cyber Attack

Boardriders Inc.—the parent company of Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, and other surf brands—was hit in a global cyberattack two weeks back, crashing internal servers and causing issues with their e-store. 

Boardriders released the following comments about the attack today:

“Recently, Boardriders Inc. was exposed to an increasingly common computer virus that impacted some of our systems in some regions. Our IT teams have been working to quickly restore our systems to support our operations, which are now largely transacting and shipping normally.

“We are proud of how our teams have responded to this challenge, and we are incredibly grateful for their hard work. We also greatly appreciate our customers’ and vendors’ patience and support during this brief interruption.” 

According to an inside source, the cyber-attack likely started in Australia with a virus-laden email, which when opened by a Boardriders employee, infected the host’s computer and spread throughout the company’s system.

The assault against Boardriders was global and affected mostly, if not explicitly, PCs (Macs remained impervious to the virus, as they tend to do). Many employees had to have their computers “swiped” to ensure that they were not infected.

As far as motive goes, we’ve been told that this was a classic case of “ransomware”, where the hacker demands money in return for an amicable retreat from the company’s mainframe. 

We can’t be sure if Boardriders paid the bribe or ousted the vermin on their own accord, but they are apparently back to 75% functionality across all systems. 

All of which serves as a helpful reminder: if you’re questioning an email’s validity, don’t open it, and especially don’t click any links.

Unless it’s from cougars near you who want to meet tonight—those are totally legit.