Hitting a failing hard drive or SSD will not fix it — it’ll make the problem worse. There, we’re done with the article.  What’s that? You need proof that percussive maintenance doesn’t work on data storage devices with extremely narrow...

The Washington Post has confirmed it was the victim of a significant data breach, exposing the highly sensitive personal and financial information of nearly 10,000 current and former employees and contractors.  The attack has been linked to the Clop ransomware...

The average turnaround time for data recovery can range from a few hours to several weeks. We realize that’s a large range — but there are quite a few factors at play, particularly when working with complex scenarios.  We start...

A donor drive is a healthy, functioning hard drive that is used as a source for replacement parts to repair a failed drive (sometimes called the “patient,” though in our laboratories, we usually just use the term “original” drive). These...

Failing hard drives tend to make noises (though not always, as we’ve discussed in other articles). Solid-state drives are more subtle: They may not give any indication whatsoever that they’re near the end of their operational lifespans.  The most...

In simple terms, data corruption occurs when the data within a file or on a storage device is altered from its original state, rendering it unreadable or unusable. You’ve likely experienced this before: a photo that’s suddenly gray or distorted,...

In a recent federal indictment, two employees of the cybersecurity firm DigitalMint were accused of secretly collaborating with one of the world’s most prominent ransomware gangs — and leveraging their positions in a sophisticated extortion scheme. Per the Chicago Sun-Times...

Double-extortion ransomware is an attack where criminals both encrypt your files and steal (exfiltrate) your data. Triple-extortion simply adds a third layer of pressure such as a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack or harassment to your clients or staff. It’s simply...

A decade-old bug in the Linux kernel is now being actively used by ransomware groups to gain full root control of a server, according to a new warning from CISA.  This vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-1086, is exceptionally dangerous because it...

Electronic components generate heat, and ventilation is certainly a factor in the long-term health of your computer. Most modern computer cases are designed with adequate airflow, but a failure in ventilation can lead to catastrophic data loss.  When internal fans...