Ransomware Attack is to Blame for Massive Rackspace Outage

Rackspace Technology, one of the largest cloud and email hosting providers in the U.S., said a ransomware attack is to blame for a massive outage that's kept some customers out of their email inboxes since Friday.

Beginning on December 2, 2022, the company issued service announcements on its website with details relating to the foregoing incident. Rackspace said Tuesday it has hired a "leading cyber defense firm" to investigate the attack, but the company is "unable to provide a timeline for restoration."

This latest crisis provides a window into the world of email hosting, where clients entrust their deepest electronic secrets to third-party cloud providers for storage and protection. The possible accessed data on Rackspace's servers could include archived email messages and contact lists. Rackspace announced in an SEC filing the attack "may result in a loss of revenue" for its $30 million Hosted Exchange business, as well as other "incremental costs."

The Company is in ongoing communication with Hosted Exchange customers to help them migrate to a new environment as quickly as possible. Rackspace has support staff to help guide customers through this process in order to limit the impact to their own operations.