Canadian research at Lakehead University suffered a cyber attack that forced it to cut off access to servers of. University services, including formal website have been out of operation since 16 February and have also been closed computers on campuses Thunder Bay and Orillia, in an effort to prevent its further spread attack.
On February 18, Lakehead University provided some information about the cyber-attack, stating that it targeted its file-sharing servers. However, the university did not disclose additional information or the nature of the incident.
The educational institution is currently conducting an investigation to determine which servers and information have been affected by the security incident. Until the evaluation is completed, all information used and stored on file share servers will not be accessible and on-campus computers will not be available for use.
Lakehead University recommends anyone with a set credentials documents on the file sharing system or on campus computer, to change, as a precaution, their passwords of.
While this is a logical proposition in case violation, the fact that the cyberattack has spread to on-campus computers may indicate that it is a ransomware attack. However, as mentioned earlier, the university has not revealed the nature or extent of the attack. In addition, school officials have not said whether personal or financial information handled by the university is at stake.
Lakehead University has canceled all events, including online seminars and virtual tours of Thunder Bay and Orillia scheduled for February 26. As all services are down, some students could not contact their teachers, get their academic diary, use the library, submit documents or make payments.
In a tweet announced by Lakehead University on 19 February, offered a possible solution for students, faculty and staff to access through e-mail. However, this method does not work in all cases. The university said that if login information is available in the browser, users could upload its inbox gmail.
Students rely on the services of the university to access online educational platforms. Course links, services Google (Gmail, Docs) and the University Library are required.
According to BleepingComputer, university officials have not yet decided whether to postpone the exams or extend the reading week, but do not rule out that possibility. The main goal of the university is to restore the services as soon as possible and to start the courses again in the next few days.
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