AdminWestern Digital customers left without access to their files for an entire workweek due to a security issue have been given a partial workaround by the company, however the problem continues to baffle the storage giant as it works on a complete fix.
The company notified customers of a service outage related to its cloud platform on April 2, promising to restore My Cloud, My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo, My Cloud OS5, SanDisk ibi and SanDisk Ixpand Wireless Charger.
A day later, WD released an update status page (opens in a new tab) promising to restore access “as soon as possible”, apologizing for the inconvenience, but not providing details of the failure or solution.
Western Digital outage
A workaround was issued, and the company confirmed that all cloud access cases, including mobile, desktop and web apps, were still experiencing outages.
The update applies to My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo and SanDisk ibi users who have been instructed to enable local access (opens in a new tab) have their NAS drives accessed via a Windows or macOS device connected to the same network. Western Digital said:
“To enable local access, use your favorite browser and connect to your device’s dashboard. Then enable the local access feature and create a new local access account.”
a company spokesman said TechRadar Pro that services not covered by local access instructions already have local access, which means that all clients with a personal computer can regain access to their files.
In the meantime, the company said: “We continue to do our best to restore all services as soon as possible and will provide updates as soon as we receive them.”
While the cause of the outage remains unconfirmed, many speculate that it is related to a “security incident” identified on March 26 where the attacker likely gained unauthorized access – the company declined to comment on the matter but suggested it was working to understand the extent of the breach data.
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