Case Study
Data Recovery From Hacked RAID-5 Server and NAS Box
Published On :
Overview:
A construction firm*, with ongoing projects in India and abroad, had stored their business-critical data (architectural drawings of several local projects and financial records) on two systems:
- a four-disk server running on a standard RAID-5 array for day-to-day work, and
- a four-disk network-attached storage (NAS) unit for backup that was updated every night.
This arrangement met the company’s insurance and client-audit requirements—until both layers failed at once.
The Incident:
On a hot May afternoon, the design team discovered that every shared folder on the firm’s file server was empty. Earlier that day, a hacker had initiated a cyberattack and:
- gained admin access;
- erased the server’s main volume; and
- reset the NAS to factory settings.
The IT admins frantically tried several professional recovery software but could not see a single readable volume.
With six active construction projects affected because of the data loss, the firm needed quick and reliable NAS data recovery and RAID data recovery solutions. So they shipped all eight hard disks to Stellar’s data recovery laboratory in Gurgaon.
Business Impact:
Without the files—which included architectural drawings, 3-D models, and bills of materials—contractors had to slow down the construction work, and they could not order customized utilities or invoice completed work.
Moreover, delay penalties written into the client contracts threatened to cost the firm about 20% of an entire quarter’s profit.
Employees had been asked to be prepared to redraw hundreds of plans from scratch—a task estimated to take more than three months.
System Specifications:
- Device Type: Virtual server with 4 HDDs + NAS box with 4 HDDs
- RAID Configuration: RAID 5
- File System: NTFS
- Issue: Hacking, data deletion, factory reset
- Affected File Types: Architectural drawings, 3-D models, bills of materials, etc.
The Recovery Approach:
Stellar Data Recovery applied a disciplined, two-step strategy: protect what remained, then rebuild.
1. Disk Imaging
- Each drive was cloned sector by sector on specialized hardware in a Class 100 cleanroom lab to capture every surviving byte. This safeguarded evidence and avoided further wear on the disks.
2. Reconstruction of the Arrays
- Primary server: Engineers used proprietary pattern-matching software to rediscover the exact order and size of the RAID-5 stripes that the attacker had deleted. They linked the cloned images in that sequence. This helped them recreate a virtual version of the original volume.
- Backup NAS: The factory reset had overwritten filesystem metadata. Technicians located older metadata hidden deeper on the disks and manually reattached it, allowing the NAS volume to mount in a read-only state.
3. Filesystem Repair
- Portions of the Windows file table on the server were missing. Stellar’s engineers rebuilt it by copying intact mirror segments that Windows keeps halfway through the disk. Directory structures and file names re-emerged, revealing more than 1.3 million objects.
4. Verification
- Every recovered file was checked for corruption to confirm usability before the data was released to the client.
Outcome:
Stellar delivered two 8 TB encrypted portable drives containing 80 percent of all requested data. The construction firm restored full operations within one day of getting its data back. They were, in fact, able to limit schedule slippage to a single working week and avoid contractual penalties.
Key Takeaways
The recovery process was a success, with all data retrieved and restored accurately, demonstrating Stellar Data Recovery’s expertise.
- Two copies in one room are not a backup. Both arrays shared the same administrator credentials; once breached, both were vulnerable.
- Imaging first preserves data integrity. Working from read-only clones prevented additional data loss and allowed multiple reconstruction attempts.
- Expert reconstruction is better than DIY tools. Consumer software cannot rebuild complex arrays whose configuration data cannot be accessed.
- Recovery buys time to improve resilience. The firm has since added immutable, off-site snapshots and separate credentials for the backup hardware.
*Client details have been anonymized at their request.
Statement from the customer:
"We’re very satisfied with Stellar’s help in resolving our problem. Thanks to their prompt service, our ongoing projects stayed on schedule"
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