Hackers claim to have breached 10TB Western Digital data

Data storage firm Western Digital has reportedly fallen victim to a group of hackers who have allegedly stolen approximately 10 terabytes of data from the company, including a significant amount of customer information, reported by TechCrunch. 

Now the hackers are reportedly pressuring the company to engage in negotiations for a ransom of at least eight figures, to prevent the release of the stolen data.   

Earlier this month, Western Digital disclosed a security breach, however, the company refrained from providing any further details regarding the incident. According to the company's statement, a network incident was detected on March 26. The website experienced an outage until earlier this week.   

After a 10-day outage that left users unable to access the online storage platform, Western Digital's My Cloud service has finally returned.  

My Cloud service has been restored.

To all customers who have been affected during this outage, thank you for your patience.

If you have issues or need help, please contact our support channel @westerndigicare. pic.twitter.com/93TxUqvZdl

— Western Digital (@westerndigital) April 12, 2023

Western Digital has been tight-lipped about the nature of the data that was stolen by hackers. In a statement, the company acknowledged that the hackers had gained access to some of its systems and that it is currently investigating the extent of the breach.  
 
“This investigation is in its early stages and Western Digital is coordinating with law enforcement authorities,” Western Digital said in the April 3 statement.   

TechCrunch has reported that one of the hackers has come forward to provide additional details to them to prove their claims. In a recent development, a hacker reportedly shared a file with a news website. The file in question has been digitally signed with Western Digital's code-signing certificate, indicating that the hacker can now sign files digitally and impersonate Western Digital. In addition to their cyber-attack, the hackers have reportedly disclosed a series of phone numbers of various high-ranking executives within the company.   

The hacker has shared screenshots that allegedly show a folder from a Box account belonging to Western Digital, an internal email, files stored in a cybersecurity product called PrivateArk, and a group call screenshot where one of the participants is identified as Western Digital's chief information security officer, reported by TechCrunch.  

According to the hacker, they successfully obtained data from the SAP backoffice of the company, which is a vital interface utilised for managing e-commerce data. The hacker said that their primary objective in hacking Western Digital was to make money and they have sent emails to multiple executives using their personal email addresses. The hacker has demanded a one-time payment in exchange for leaving the company's network and disclosing its vulnerabilities. “But if there are any efforts to interfere with us, our systems, or anything else. We will strike back!” the hacker told TechCrunch.   

Furthermore, the hacker has refrained from disclosing the nature of the customer data they possess, as well as the methods they employed to infiltrate Western Digital's network and sustain their access to it.  If Western Digital fails to respond, the hacker has stated that they are prepared to release the stolen data on the website of the ransomware group Alphv.