MathWorks, the company behind the popular MATLAB programming platform, has confirmed a ransomware attack that disrupted its services for more than a week. The attack affected millions of engineers, scientists, and students who rely on MATLAB worldwide.
The Massachusetts-based software company acknowledged the cyberattack on May 26, 2025, after initially reporting vague technical issues on May 18.
Attack Details and Initial Response
The ransomware began affecting MathWorks’ IT systems on Sunday, May 18, 2025. Key online applications and internal services experienced outages as a result.
For several days, MathWorks released limited updates, saying only that investigations were ongoing. The company did not immediately disclose the nature of the disruption.
In a later statement, MathWorks confirmed: “MathWorks experienced a ransomware attack. We have notified federal law enforcement of this matter. The attack affected our IT systems.”
The company said the attack made some customer-facing and internal systems unavailable, starting on May 18.
Impact on Services
The attack hit several critical services, including MATLAB Online, the License Center, File Exchange, Cloud Center, and the MathWorks Store.
One of the most serious issues involved the licensing servers. Users could not verify licenses, which blocked access to web-based MATLAB services. This had a major impact on students and educators during exam season.
MathWorks has restored access to MATLAB Online and MATLAB Mobile. MATLAB Grader and Cody were brought back online afterward. However, some services remain affected. The File Exchange is operating in a limited state, and the License Center is still facing issues.
Organizations using self-hosted licensing servers were less affected, highlighting the risks of relying entirely on cloud-based systems.
Widespread Disruption and User Frustration
The outage caused major problems for over 5 million MATLAB users, especially students and researchers in more than 6,500 institutions.
Many users took to Reddit to express frustration. Some reported resorting to software piracy despite owning valid licenses. One user wrote: “I am done with MATLAB’s lack of explanation, so I just pirated it. I do have a genuine license, and since they can’t deliver the service I rightfully paid, I am going to pirate the hell out of it.”
Others said their academic and research work had stalled entirely. One researcher shared: “My entire research is at a stage where I cannot do anything without MATLAB.”
Ongoing Challenges and Cybersecurity Lessons
This incident highlights the growing threat of ransomware attacks against enterprise software providers. It also shows the need for companies to strengthen cybersecurity while keeping essential tools accessible to users.
MathWorks is working with cybersecurity experts and federal authorities to investigate the breach and restore all affected services.
