If you own a WD My Book Live NAS, you should immediately disconnect it from your network — users have discovered that their data has seemingly been deleted off the device, with no action on their part (via Ars Technica). In a post on its community forum, WD says that the data loss appears to be the result of “malicious software,” and advises any My Book Live or My Book Live Duo owners to disconnect their devices from the internet to protect their data.
Some users on WD’s forum report that their devices appear to have been factory reset, while others report seeing a page requesting a password they don’t know.
In most cases, those who have been affected say that all of the data on the device appears to be gone, with their file structure either remaining intact, but with empty folders, or no folders at all except the ones that come by default on the device.
We’ve reached out to WD to ask for comment, and we’ve explicitly asked whether the company will offer data recovery services to affected users, but we haven’t yet gotten a response. The company sent statements to both BleepingComputer and Ars Technica, which largely mirrored its community post, saying that WD is investigating the incident, and doesn’t believe its servers were compromised.
All modern means of communication rely on glass. From the Gorilla glass on our phones to the infotainment screens on our cars. But when I think of the internet I think of 5G, Starlink satellites, and WiFi, and I never think about the 750,000 miles of fiber optic cables currently running under our oceans: the tiny strands of glass that carry all of our photos, emails, and video chats. It is through these hair-thin strands of fiber that we are able to instantly communicate to almost anyone, anywhere, and it all relies on a 5,000 year old technology: glass.
