Hackers are apparently everywhere, and one of the latest victims of hacking seems to be data storage giant Western Digital.
The company has officially confirmed that hackers have exfiltrated data from its systems in a “network security incident” over the previous week.
Linked to ransomware
In a statement earlier this week, California-based Western Digital said that an unauthorized third-party gained access to “a number” of its internal systems last March 26th. However, the company has not confirmed the incident’s nature or revealed how it was compromised. Its statement, nonetheless, suggests the incident may be associated with ransomware.
Western Digital stated, “Based on the investigation to date, the company believes the unauthorized party obtained certain data from its systems and is working to understand the nature and scope of that data.”
Who was behind the attack is still unknown. The incident does not appear to have yet been claimed by any ransomware group.
My Cloud service shutdown
The data storage giant also noted that this incident “has caused and may continue to cause disruption” to its business operations. It, however, did not provide any further details. For instance, Western Digital’s service status website confirms the incident downed its My Cloud network-attacked storage (NAS) service, which lets customers access their files from the Internet.
Its My Cloud service is integrated with its line of My Cloud-branded network storage boxes. Such products are a simplified and streamlined take on NAS. Through it, users can wirelessly back up and access their data anywhere, provided an Internet connection, but the data live on hard drives in their homes. None of the My Cloud features are functioning well right now, with the service being completely offline.
Specifically, the status page for My Cloud lists Cloud, web, authentication, and other services as “down,” without any estimate of when they will be back. Attempting to load any My Cloud web service, even just the login page, gives a 503 “Service Temporarily Unavailable” error.
Users of its products, don’t lose hope. Nevertheless, the company said it is “implementing proactive measures to secure its business operations.” It is also working toward restoring affected infrastructure and services. It also said it is now investigating the incident with an unspecified cybersecurity firm and already coordinating with law enforcement agencies.
Western Digital, doing business as Western Digital Corporation and commonly known as WDC or WD, is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company based in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures, and markets data technology products, including data storage devices, cloud storage services, and data center systems.
It has a long history as an integrated circuit maker and storage products company in the electronics industry. It is among the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers, along with producing flash memory devices and solid-state drives.
