Asustor NAS devices fall prey to costly DeadBolt ransomware attack
Sometimes it feels like we’ve all got more data than we know what to do with, and turning to Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices like those we’ve covered fromSynologyandQNAPcan really ease the load for home users and for small businesses. People establish shared homestorageor back upsecurity systems, Over time, a good NAS can pay for itself with convenient and easily accessible storage. Unless, of course, it falls prey to insidious ransomware — which is exactly what’s happening to some unlucky users right now.
Citing posts from bothRedditand Asustor’scustomer forums,Tom’s Hardware reportsthat Asustor owners have fallen prey to a series of DeadBolt ransomware attacks that demanded users pay over $1,100 each to restore their data. Hackers first took aim at QNAP products last January using a zero-day vulnerability — a system weakness for which no fix was available when first exploited. Victims trying to access whatever they had in storage were locked out, finding their files encrypted with “.deadbolt” appended to their names.The manufacturerultimately addressed the problem with a firmware update.
The headaches for NAS users have only continued, though, and according to Tom’s Hardware, Asustor’s DeadBolt hackers are basically repeating the same methods used in QNAP attacks. The company is addressing the dangerwith instructions on protectingyour NAS device: To help prevent ransomware access, users should change the default NAS web access ports and the ports for remote control from the web.Asustor advisesdisabling EZ Connect — which lets users access device data remotely — then performing a full backup, as well as switching off Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) services.
Usersalreadyhit by DeadBolt are advised to unplug Ethernet cables and shut off the NAS by pressing the power button for at least three seconds — just don’t initialize after shutoff, as this will completely erase what you’ve stored. Affected users should then fill outthis Google form, and Asustor says technicians will get in touch with them ASAP.
It’s $30 off for a limited time
Check your order status!
Perfect for all types of devices
Pixelsnap on a Pixel 9
What’s new? A lot
You can now learn languages too
