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Forum Discussion

Philip_Smith's avatar
Philip_Smith
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago

Mass deletion happened today - Says it was me, it wasn't - Need help please

I have dropbox for our team. We have (usually) group folders that I created and shared from the Content Manager page... Well, today I went to open an Excel file that I use most days and Excel said t...
Restore
  • Philip_Smith's avatar
    Philip_Smith
    2 years ago

    So, I just found out as an admin I can delete a file "permanently". It would be a good thing to have known this was even possible - I guess I never tried to delete a file permanently before. It was news to everyone on our team.

     

    Please DropBox - Why is "Dropbox Rewind" not always available? Crazy stuff!

     

    I thought for sure we would recover our files because we are on a paid DropBox, you know, you have 180 days to get them back. Not the case for us, we have lost the lot.

     

    Now for the task of compiling what data we have on other devices. We won't be solely trusting DropBox with our data from now on.

     

    Lesson learned the hard way.

Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
2 years ago

Hi Philip_Smith, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

Are you able to see anything on the events page regarding the deletions?

 

Have you already contacted the Dropbox support team for further assistance on this matter?

 

This will help me to assist further!

  • Philip_Smith's avatar
    Philip_Smith
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago

    Hi Jay

    Thanks for the reply. We found the cause of the mass deletion.

    Our server computer has been hacked. The hacker left a ransom message on a text file.

     

    Yes, I've been in touch with Dropbox support and our case has been escalated appropriately. Now to wait and see if we gain access to our files again.

     

    And, FYI, we have changed all our passwords for all our accounts and have taken the server offline.

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      2 years ago

      Thanks for the update, and I'm sorry to hear about the circumstances.

       

      Our support team should be able to assist further with any account-specific queries from there on.

      • Philip_Smith's avatar
        Philip_Smith
        Helpful | Level 6
        2 years ago

        So, I just found out as an admin I can delete a file "permanently". It would be a good thing to have known this was even possible - I guess I never tried to delete a file permanently before. It was news to everyone on our team.

         

        Please DropBox - Why is "Dropbox Rewind" not always available? Crazy stuff!

         

        I thought for sure we would recover our files because we are on a paid DropBox, you know, you have 180 days to get them back. Not the case for us, we have lost the lot.

         

        Now for the task of compiling what data we have on other devices. We won't be solely trusting DropBox with our data from now on.

         

        Lesson learned the hard way.

About Delete, edit, and organize

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