"attack was foiled" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to an unsuccessful attempt to do something damaging or harmful. For example, "The police were able to act quickly and the terrorist attack was foiled."
A similar attack was foiled this weekend, officials said.
The Mumbai attack killed more than 160 people; the subway attack was foiled.
"A terrorist attack was foiled on Sunday morning," Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister, said on Wednesday.
A first-half attack was foiled by Zebo's effort to swan dive into a ruck and referee Pascal Gauzere (who was fussy throughout) immediately blew his whistle.
But the attack was foiled by the cybersecurity researcher Marcus Hutchins, who discovered and activated a built-in kill switch that prevented the malware from being more destructive.
In the days after the attack was foiled, the United States and the Netherlands pointed fingers at each other over why the airport, which has 15 of the scanners, had not been using them.
At several moments already it's been decisive, though little heralded, intervention from Beckerman that's stood between the USA and disaster, as counter attacks are foiled before they've begun, or an attacker ushered inside into US traffic.
The attacks were foiled when several Jemaah Islamiyah members were captured.
They said the attacks were foiled after a surveillance operation lasting many months and with only days, perhaps, in hand.
His previous attacks were foiled by peacekeepers who used helicopters to blast his rebels from the air.
The attacks were foiled by Jordanian authorities, who said the plans were ordered by one of Mr. bin Laden's top lieutenants.
