School’s out: no classes at Eindhoven University due to cyberattack

For the second day in a row, the Eindhoven University of Technology won’t be able to offer education.
Last Saturday, the IT staff of the Eindhoven University of Technology detected suspicious activity on its computer network. The university couldn’t say much about the exact nature at that time, but it acknowledged that the unauthorized access had all the hallmarks of a cyberattack. Just to be safe, the university decided to shut down its servers.
On Sunday, the Eindhoven University of Technology announced that all lectures and other educational activities on Monday were canceled. Students were able to visit campus, but they couldn’t use any network-bound facilities, such as email, WiFi, Canvas of Microsoft Teams.
“We realize that switching off the network has serious consequences for our students and employees, but also for other parties on campus. This necessary intervention was done to prevent worse outcomes. We therefore hope for understanding, and we are doing our utmost to resolve this and have all systems accessible as soon as possible,” Vice President Patrick Groothuis said in a statement.
Cybersecurity experts are working around the clock to make the university’s network secure and available again. However, this work isn’t complete, which means there will be no education on Tuesday as well.
Later today, the university will provide an update to see if classes can continue on Wednesday. In the meantime, most students and employees have chosen to stay at home.
Non-network-related research at the Eindhoven University of Technology can continue. In addition, all labs and facilities are functional and safe. PhD defenses can also take place.
The university has set up a helpdesk, which is available via WhatsApp, and is working out different educational scenarios.
“So far, we have no indication that data has been stolen, but the investigation is still ongoing. There is no contact with the hackers, and it is still unknown who they are,” Groothuis states.
Fortunately, there are little to no classes at the moment because students are preparing for upcoming exams.
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