QNAP raises alarm over serious vulnerability in NAS devices

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The QNAP Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) has released updates for its Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices

NAS devices by the Taiwanese vendor are a popular target for hackers and have been on the receiving end of various cyber attack campaigns lately. Threat actors are known to actively seek out vulnerabilities in order to target QNAP devices that are accessible over the internet. 

Last month, the company released updates to safeguard devices from being exploited to mine cryptocurrency. The latest updates, however, come in response to reports of two ransomware campaigns, Qlocker and eCh0raix, that are on the prowl for vulnerable QNAP devices.

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In its advisory, QNAP suggests users update their Multimedia Console, Media Streaming Add-on, and Hybrid Backup Sync apps, to mitigate the ongoing ransomware threat. 

Sanitize devices

QNAP also urges its users to fetch and run its latest malware removal tool to ensure their devices are sanitized. 

If you have been hit by the ransomware, the company suggests you don’t power down your NAS device, even if you catch the data being encrypted. Instead, you are advised to immediately run the malware scan and contact QNAP’s technical support.

To avoid being targeted, QNAP’s PSIRT suggests all users practice sensible password policies. In fact, that advice should be applicable to everyone, especially with there being no dearth of password managers that can help you set strong passwords.

Meanwhile, QNAP says it is urgently working on a solution to remove malware from infected devices.

Via The Register

Mayank Sharma

With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’s TechRadar Pro’s expert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.