Image credit: HackRead
Data storage company Western Digital has confirmed that it experienced a "network security incident" last week in which hackers managed to exfiltrate data from its systems. The California-based company released a statement on Monday, stating that an unauthorized third party had gained access to several of its internal systems on March 26. The company is still working to determine the nature and scope of the data that was taken, but its statement suggests that the incident may have been linked to ransomware.
The company has not yet confirmed how the hackers were able to gain access to its systems, nor has it identified who was behind the attack. At present, there is no indication that any major ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the breach.
Western Digital has acknowledged that the incident "may continue to cause disruption" to its business operations. As of the time of writing, its My Cloud network-attached storage service remains down due to the incident.
In response to the breach, Western Digital says it is "implementing proactive measures to secure its business operations" and is working to restore any impacted infrastructure and services. The company is also working with an unnamed cybersecurity firm and law enforcement to investigate the incident.
This is not the first time Western Digital has experienced a data breach. In 2011, the company experienced a major security breach that resulted in the loss of confidential data belonging to a number of its employees. The company was also the victim of a ransomware attack in 2019.
