Hackers Hit Memory Supplier Western Digital, My Cloud Service Goes Down

pcmag.com:

Hackers managed to pilfer data from memory maker Western Digital in a breach that has also ensnared the company's My Cloud service.

The California-based company today disclosed it had suffered a “network security incident” that was first detected on March 26.  

“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,” Western Digital said in the announcement(Opens in a new window). 

The company is also warning the breach “may continue to cause disruption” to certain parts of Western Digital’s operations. Over the weekend, users began reporting that the company’s personal cloud storage service for consumers, My Cloud, was inaccessible. The login portal for My Cloud currently says: "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable."

Western Digital says it's working to take certain systems and services offline as a “proactive measure,” likely to isolate and purge the hackers’ access from the company’s IT systems. It's not clear if the memory maker suffered a ransomware attack, which can encrypt entire computer systems. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Western Digital has only said the hackers “gained access to a number of the company’s systems,” without elaborating. It's now working with security experts and law enforcement. But for now, the investigation remains in its early stages. 

Western Digital produces consumer data storage devices, such as SSD drives, HDD drives, and memory cards, along with storage products for data centers. So the breach could be far reaching depending on what systems the hackers managed to access.

Sign up for SecurityWatch newsletter for our top