Western Digital confirms network security incident. Some systems offline
Western Digital confirmed a network security incident today and that some of the company's systems, including My Cloud Home and My Cloud OS, are down currently.
The company detected the network intrusion on March 26, 2023. It discovered that an "unauthorized third party gained access to a number of the Company’s system". Western Digital initiated an investigation and implemented incident response efforts. The investigation is in its early stages according to the company, but leading outside security and forensic experts are assisting the company in the investigation.
The press release does not provide details on the affected systems or the data that the intruder was able to access or copy. Western Digital notes that it is still "working to understand the nature and scope" of the data that the intruder obtained access to.
The company is remediating the security incident, but services may be affected currently by the investigation and security measures taken to protect customer data and operations.
Customers who use My Cloud Home and My Cloud OS 5 services may not be able to do so currently, as both appear to be down at the time of writing. Western Digital's status website lists the status of the different services. Customers who rely on these may check the status website for updates.
The company added the following note on Sunday: "Western Digital is currently experiencing a service outage impacting the following products: My Cloud, My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo, My Cloud OS5, SanDisk ibi, SanDisk Ixpand Wireless Charger. We are working to restore service."
It promised to provide an update on April 3, 2023 about the service outage.
Closing Words
The scope of the network security incident is unclear at this point. Western Digital has yet to release details on it, including whether customer data was accessed or copied, and the scope of the attack.
Western Digital customers who use the company's cloud services may want to monitor the company's official channels for updates on the issue.
Now You: do you use Western Digital services?
Articles like this prove that the current mindset about “cloud is good, cloud is safe” is not really based on anything but repeating that mantra PR-companies have instilled in so many.
Myself, I’m more of the mindset: ‘my data, my problem’.