Hackers Shut Down Internet Services At Number Of Louisiana Colleges
Internet services have come to a complete halt for five different colleges in Louisiana.
In an article published today from insidehighered.com, we have learned that a cybersecurity breach was reported by the five different colleges and universities in Louisiana.
The site mentions that in a story first reported by NOLA.com, we learn that these schools are all lacking their regular computer systems campus wide due to a cybersecurity breach this past Friday, March 23.
The schools affected include the University of New Orleans, Nunez Community College, River Parishes Community College, Southern University at Shreveport and LSU Agricultural Center.
Though the schools are reported to be diligently working "to restore network services soon", we have yet to receive word of any success in network restoration from any of those affected campuses.
In fact, in a separate article from NOLA.com, we see that students and staff are starting to show their frustration at the lack of answers regarding a solution to the breach.
Louisiana State Police and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness are assisting the schools in the investigation. State police issued a statement saying the universities took action after its Cyber Crime Unit "found potential indicators of compromise within the networks." "We can't do anything," said Sergeant Lawrence Hingle of UNO campus police. "We communicate through email. All of our computers are down," he said.
One can only imagine the frustration of a senior nearing graduation and having their education grind to a screeching halt due to an issue like this. I'd have to assume a total loss of tuition payments, grade records, and possibly even a total loss of testing abilities and any further computer based learning until a resolution is found.
Louisiana colleges are no stranger to this type of attack as just a few weeks ago, Southeastern University in Hammond was hit in a similar fashion.