Synology recommended All Users to Take Expedite Action to Safeguard Data from Ransomware Attack

Synology recently found that several users were under a ransomware attack, where admins accreditations were stolen by brute-force login assaults, and their information was scrambled as a result. Synology investigated and found that the causes of these attacks were due to dictionary attacks instead of specific system vulnerabilities. This enormous -scale attack was targeted at various NAS models from different vendors; therefore, Synology strongly recommends users check their network and account settings to protect data from ransomware.

"We believe this is an organized attack. After an intensive investigation concerning this issue, we found that the concerning this issue used botnet addresses to shroud the real source IP," said Ken Lee, Manager of Security Incident Response Team at Synology Inc. "After collecting admin account passwords with brute-force attacks, the attack was launched on July 19 and caught users off guard. We therefore informed TWCERT/CC and CERT/CC immediately of this matter in hopes of accelerating the collaborative efforts to resolve this incident."
Since this attack is not related to framework security vulnerabilities, it is prescribed that Synology users utilize built-in network and account management settings to enhance system security level, preventing malicious attacks from the Internet.

"We ask all Synology users to take expedite action to protect their NAS from the ransomware attack," said Hewitt Lee, Director of Product Management at Synology Inc. "Users' data security is always our priority. For those who are not using Synology NAS, we still recommend you take corresponding actions to protect your precious data."

Please make sure you go through the checklist below:
Use a complex and strong password, and Apply password strength rules to all users.
Create a new account in administrator group and disable the system default "admin" account.
Enable Auto Block in Control Panel to block IP addresses with too many failed login attempts.
Run Security Advisor to make sure there is no weak password in the system.

To ensure the security of your Synology NAS, we firmly suggest you enable Firewall in Control Panel and only allow public ports for services when necessary, and enable 2-step verification to prevent unauthorized login attempts. You may also want to enable Snapshot to keep your NAS immune to encryption-based ransomware. To learn more about ransomware attacks, please visit https://www.synology.com/solution/ransomware