Stellar has recently announced free technical support to help users recover their lost data from WD MyBook Live® and MyBook Live Duo® devices impacted by unknown hacking attacks. The free service intends to provide a reliable solution and consulting to the affected users and help them recover their lost data.
Presently, Stellar is offering technical assistance via multiple support channels, namely, service request, email, telephone, and live chat. The service is available ‘globally’ to all the users affected by this issue on a 24×6 basis.
Before proceeding to the ways to seek technical support, here’s a quick run-through of the hacking incidents that are yet unfolding.
As per Western Digital official release, dated June 24, users had reported instances of their MyBook Live devices getting factory reset automatically and later found empty. As a result, all the data stored on these devices was lost after the factory reset. The official advisory informs that the attackers manipulated a remote command execution vulnerability in WD MyBook Live® storage devices to trigger a factory reset, thereby erasing the data on the devices. The release also cites this remote code execution vulnerability CVE-2018-18472 in the NIST- National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
Reportedly, the WD MyBook Live devices affected by the hacking attacks had their existing partitions wiped, and then new partitions were created with the Ext4 file system.
Purportedly, the loophole is vulnerable to exploitation by anybody who is aware of the network storage devices’ Internet IP addresses; a review of the compromised devices’ log files by Western Digital supports this plausibility. It informs that the hackers could directly connect with the compromised MyBook Live® devices via the Internet through IP addresses in different geographical locations.
According to the official advisory, “this issue indicates that the affected devices were directly accessible from the Internet, either through direct connection or through port forwarding that was enabled either manually or automatically via UPnP.”
While this event unfolds and more developments are expected imminently, Western Digital recommends users to disconnect their MyBook Live® and MyBook Live Duo® devices from the Internet. This action is crucial to thwarting potential attacks on the devices that have managed to stay clear of the trouble.
What to Do Before You Seek Technical Support for Data Recovery?
WD MyBook Live® is a network-attached storage (NAS) that serves as a personal cloud. The hard drive in the device is inside an enclosure and cannot directly connect with a computer system to allow data recovery. So, you need to first remove the hard drive from the enclosure, connect it to the computer, and perform data recovery on the drive using a software tool.
Preliminary steps to perform data recovery on Western Digital MyBook Live
- Open the MyBook Live enclosure and remove the hard drive.
- Connect the hard drive to a Windows computer (desktop or laptop PC) using a SATA to USB adaptor.
- Download a free trial of Stellar Toolkit for Data Recovery and install it on the system.
Note: The software can scan NTFS, FAT, exFAT, APFS, HFS, HFS+, Ext2, Ext3, & Ext4 file systems. As mentioned earlier in this post, the compromised drives were reformatted and partitioned using the Ext4 file system.
- Launch the software and select the All Data option. Click Next.
- Select the WD MyBook Live hard drive as the location to recover from.
- Scan the drive using the Deep Scan option available at the bottom of the screen.
By following these steps, you will be able to ascertain whether the software can recover your files from the WD MyBook Live devices.
Subsequently, you can reach out to Stellar technical support team for expert advice and free assistance, as described in the next section:
How to Contact Stellar Technical Support Team?
Follow these steps to reach out to Stellar Technical Support team through different channels:
Write an email to support@stellarinfo.com with a brief explanation of the issue.
Phone
Contact +1-732-584-2700 for voice support in English language.
Raise a Service Ticket
- Visit the ticketing URL: https://tickets.stellarinfo.com/portal/en/signin
- Sign into the portal if you are an existing user of Stellar
- If you a new user, please sign up and then log into the portal
- Raise a service request with device details
Our support executive will contact you and brief you on the next steps.
Ending Note
The hacking episode concerning Western Digital MyBook Live devices is an emergent issue. Nonetheless, it has resulted in substantial data loss for several users with no solution in sight. Stellar free technical support service focuses on providing expert advisory and solution to help users reacquire their valuable data.
We strongly recommend the users to start troubleshooting this problem by trying Stellar Toolkit for Data Recovery— a tool designed for Windows, macOS, and Linux file systems, including Ext2, Ext3, & Ext4, which are of primary concern here. Further, with many similar cases handled in the recent past and pulling off successful recovery, Stellar can offer users the hope of recovering their data. The free technical support service represents the company’s immediate stance to help out the affected users.
