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Some WD My Book external drives hacked

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engrssc

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Some WD My Book external drives hacked

PostWed Jun 30, 2021 10:04 am

I know of two HW folks that used the WD My Book external drive to store sample sets. Haven't heard if their drives were hacked or if the drives were connected online.

https://www.extremetech.com/internet/324249-western-digital-code-widespread-hard-drive-hacks?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=extremetech&utm_medium=image

Lessen to be learned - don't leave HW drives connected to the Internet (via a network). My method is to download updates on a separate online computer and only apply them after proven to be safe. Also have multiple copies (even off site) of the HW drive(s). Very easy to do with the very compact NVMe drives.

Rgds,
Ed
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IainStinson

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Re: Some WD My Book external drives hacked

PostWed Jun 30, 2021 11:39 am

It is important to note that the devices reset were “ My Book Live hard drives”, connected over the LAN and not usb connected drives. The file server they used in the device was compromised.

It is generally a good idea to ensure that your internal network (wired and wireless) is not accessible from the Internet. If you need to allow access to webpages or controlled files either do it via cloud service rather than via your own network. If you must do it via your own network ensure that your network interface is configured to only accept incoming connections to the end points on your network that you have secured for external access.

Iain
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engrssc

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Re: Some WD My Book external drives hacked

PostWed Jun 30, 2021 11:55 am

Good advice of course. Sometimes such details are overlooked or consequences minimized. These days previously unthought of "things" happen. Best to side on being overly safe. These drives go back to 2018. Who would have expected them to be vulnerable today?

Rgds,
Ed
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engrssc

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Re: Some WD My Book external drives hacked

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engrssc

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Re: Some WD My Book external drives hacked


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