Hundreds of Internet users recently lost their data due to a hacker who attacked network hard drives all over the world. The opportunity to recall some basic computer hygiene rules to minimize the risk of data loss.
On the morning of June 25, a surfer nicknamed Sunpeak made a most unpleasant discovery. All the data stored on his NAS (network hard drive) had been erased overnight. 2 TB of files lost in IT limbo.
Scores of other Western Digital NAS owners responded to the message saying they had suffered a similar mishap. In a matter of hours and exploiting two security holes in My Book Live devices, malicious hackers erased the hard drives of hundreds of people, deleting petabytes of data across the world.
To avoid a similar problem, let’s recall some useful computer hygiene rules to protect your data.
The 3-2-1 rule
In IT, there is a fairly simple method to remember to protect your data as well as possible: the rule of ” 3-2-1 “.
For all your sensitive data, you should have 3 copies sure 2 different supports, whose 1 is kept in another location.
Let us illustrate the principle concretely: if I want at all costs to keep the photos of my Breton weekend in 2004, I must make two copies of these files in addition to the “original” photo folder. I would thus have three backups. Then, to further reduce the risks, it is advisable to make these copies on at least two different media. One can for example be on an internal hard drive, and the other on an SD card. The leftover copy that should be stored away from home, for example in the cloud. So even in the event of a fire or burglary, you won’t lose your data.
Widely used in the professional world, this rule is more difficult to apply by the general public. Making copies of several hundred gigabytes of data is not always easy. But if you have files of the utmost importance (the start of your novel, your thesis nearly finished, a particularly valuable photo) then it pays to invest a little time and money to at least protect those files. -the.
Keep your devices up to date
In the Western Digital case, one of the reasons that made hacking relatively easy is that the My Book Live had not been updated by the company since 2015. After a few years of existence, Western Digital had announced that it would no longer deploy new features or security fixes to its old NAS. It had therefore been 6 years since the development of its devices had been frozen.
For a machine connected to the Internet, this constitutes a real risk. Having an up-to-date device is the best way to guard against possible attacks since the manufacturer itself conducts security audits on its devices (ideally).
This advice also applies to your smartphones, your computer, your connected bulbs or your smart TV. Any device connected to the Internet is a potential access point in your network.
What if I have already lost my data?
If you have ever lost your files, there is software that specializes in data recovery. Some like Recuva are free, but the most advanced solutions are often paid and unfortunately none can guarantee a complete recovery of your data.
Companies specializing in data recovery can also help you with your task and dissect your hard drive with professional tools. Here again, it will be necessary to put the hand in the portfolio, without guarantee of results.
If you were the victim of the My Book Live attack, Western Digital has announced that a data recovery program will be launched starting in July.
