Nothing is more disheartening than logging into your device and discovering that you can no longer access a file you were working on, or worse, that it has been completely wiped. Sadly, this was a situation that many Western Digital My Book users were dealing with recently. This was due to an unpatched vulnerability, that caused these users to suffer from file loss and lost account access. Let’s look further into this Western Digital loss vulnerability.
The Western Digital My Book NAS device is a consumer-based external hard drive that allows users to access their files remotely, even if the NAS device is secured with a router or firewall. Some users were not able to access their devices due to what seemed to be a factory reset and the receiving of an “Invalid Password” notification. Even with the use of the default credentials, it would not let the users in.
Users soon realized that their devices received a remote command to factory reset. This has led users to believe that the Western Digital servers were hacked, but it is a strange attack due to only deleting files and not installing ransomware or any threats.
Western Digital is investigating and Bleeping Computer has a statement from the company:
“If you own a WD My Book Live NAS device, Western Digital strongly recommends that you disconnect the device from the Internet. ‘At this time, we recommend you disconnect your My Book Live and My Book Live Duo from the Internet to protect your data on the device,’ Western Digital said in an advisory.”
WD My Book Live Devices have not received any updates since 2015, so common vulnerabilities make sense. This is a wake-up call for those who need to upgrade their old devices because old devices can’t often be protected. This case caused file loss for many users. This is also a call to make sure your data is backed up in more than one place.
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If you need help with upgrading or keeping your tech tight, contact MyTek today at 6223-312-2444. Don’t let something like the Western Digital loss vulnerability happen to you.