Western Digital confirms that customer data was stolen in a cyber attack

Western Digital says in an email to customers that “customer names, billing and shipping addresses, email addresses and phone numbers” were stolen in the March cyberattack. The webshop, which was closed as a precaution, will be online again from next week.

The email from Western Digital (courtesy of JJDN)

According to Western Digital, the database, which an “unauthorized party” obtained a copy of, also contained salted password hashes and partially encrypted credit card numbers from customers of the web store. The storage manufacturer warns customers that they may receive unsolicited messages asking for personal information, or they may receive suspicious emails. Western Digital expects to be able to restore access to the web store in the week of May 8. It is not mentioned whether and what Western Digital has changed in the meantime to the services to make them more secure.

Western Digital reported in early April that the company had been the victim of a cyber attack, although it did not provide details about the cause of the hack and the captured data. The storage manufacturer took the webshop and My Cloud storage service offline ‘as a precaution’, but access to the latter was reopened about a week and a half later. However, the webshop remained closed.

In mid-April, a hacker claimed to have stolen 10TB of data from the company. He said he stole customer data, telephone numbers and internal e-mails, among other things. He also claimed to still have access to Western Digital’s internal network at the time. The hacker wanted “an eight-figure amount” from the company and said otherwise to leak data. Later, a hacker group shared alleged internal footage of video calls between Western Digital employees discussing the cyberattack. This suggests that the hackers still had access to Western Digital systems after the initial attack. The company has not commented on the hackers’ claims and the leaked video.