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

[Philip_Smith]

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 the file was not in its expected location.

• I opened windows explorer to find all the group folders empty (that's 119,120 files missing)
• My personal folders deleting in front of my eyes
• I checked my email and Dropbox had just sent me an email alerting of the Mass Deletion
• Group folders all gone at this point
• I opened my browser (from the dropbox desktop app) and logged in
  • I have not been able to "Unwind", "Restore" or the like

Has anyone else got this problem at the moment?

Strange thing also (as if all our files being trashed wasn't bad enough) I try to view "Deleted Files" and it's like the folders and files never existed.

• The only place I get to see the deleted folders is when viewing the "Alert"
• I don't know how many times I've clicked the blue "Restore" button (top right) but the files don't appear to be available
• Clicking restore opens an "Activity Log"
  • Some of the items have "Restore" on the ellipsis
  • Message I get: "Can't Restore. Can only restore items in the team space."

Does anyone know where the "Team Space" is located?

I've been on this for three hours now and going in dropbox circles.

Thanks for reading/listening.

[Jay]

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]

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]

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 · Accepted solution]

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.

[shajuniper]

This same exact thing happened to me!! I am the owner of a folder, and had given access to another user. That user deleted their Dropbox account, and somehow ALL OF MY FILES went missing from that folder! What the heck. This is absolutely not okay. I can see the files in the events area, and "recently deleted", after scrolling down for literally 30 minutes, since each photo is listed as an "event".. but because it was more than 30 days ago (like 6 or 7 weeks ago), I cannot recover the files. This is so messed up! Because I was never informed in the first place from Dropbox, that these files were deleted. I am livid! If this doesn't get fixed, I plan to leave Dropbox and switch over to another platform. I absolutely cannot have this happen. 

[Nancy]

Hi @shajuniper, I’m really sorry to hear this. 

In general, if one of the shared folder members deletes their Dropbox account, this shouldn’t affect the files in your shared folder, as also described here. 

Is there any chance that the other user deleted these files manually, before deleting their own account?

[bonn88]

I just discovered the same! I’m the account owner and found 100’s of files missing that I absolutely did delete. I don’t see them listed in my deleted file to try to recover them. It is outside the 30 day window so I am hoping they can still be recovered somehow from Dropbox storage servers. I sent an email to support but since I don’t have a restoration link I am unsure my email was submitted properly.

[Nancy]

Hi @bonn88!

Do you mind sharing with me the ticket number from your support request? I’d like to take a look, as well.

Also, have you checked your Events page? Are you able to locate the deletion event there, and send its URL to our support?

[bonn88]

Hello Nancy,

I didn't receive a ticket number. There were two messages that appeared-one at the bottom of the screen stating that my message was submitted and a second message in red stating I need to submit a correct url - which I was unsure of.

I am able to see lots of files in the events page you provided (thank you!).

I will send a url to support.