Unplug Those Western Digital NAS Drives Now
Network attached storage (NAS) devices are external hard drives with network connectivity. Basically, these are private cloud drives that you can set up at home for remote file access. They are convenient, but if you are using a Western Digital My Book Live and My Book Live DUO NAS, you should immediately disconnect it from Wi-Fi to protect your data from hackers.
According to widespread user reports, outsiders can use the WD My Book Live app to remotely access NAS drives. Once inside, the hacker steals the saved files and then performs a factory reset, which erases all saved data. Data cannot be recovered after a system reboot, making this attack particularly devastating.
Typically, users expect a security patch to resolve such a serious issue. Unfortunately, Western Digital ended support for the affected NAS drives in 2015 and the devices have not received firmware updates since then. This explains why the vulnerability exists at all, but it also means that a fix may never appear. According to an official statement on the Western Digital website :
Western Digital has determined that some My Book Live devices have been compromised by malware. In some cases, this compromise resulted in a factory reset, which apparently erases all data on the device.
However, Western Digital has not confirmed whether it will fix the issue with a patch, stating:
The latest firmware update for the My Book Live was received in 2015. We understand that our customer data is very important. We currently recommend disconnecting My Book Live from the Internet to help protect your data on your device.
Users should check their drives immediately. If the Control Panel login screen displays an “Invalid Password” (and you confirmed that you are using the correct login information), someone may have erased the disk. If you can still log in and your data is still available, you should remove your disk from the network to prevent an attack. While you won’t be able to access the drive remotely, you can connect it directly to your computer or laptop using an Ethernet cable.
- Disable Wi-Fi on your computer.
- Connect your computer and NAS with an Ethernet cable.
- Reboot your computer.
- The NAS drive indicator should turn on and appear on your PC’s storage devices.
- If you run into any problems, please refer to the Western Digital Support page for troubleshooting assistance .
[ TweakTown ]