TU Eindhoven took its network offline on Sunday due to a cyber attack. There is no Wi-Fi on the campus of the technical university for the time being, and internal systems are down as well.
This Monday, all teaching at TU Eindhoven has been cancelled. The buildings remain accessible, but there is no network access. All but one of the canteens are closed, as the cash registers are not working.
The network has been switched off ‘to prevent worse’, as per an official statement. Wi-Fi and internal systems will be accessible again on Tuesday morning at the earliest. Details about the attack are not yet being given by the university.
Extra alert
The university urges everyone to be extra alert to phishing emails. These are fake e-mails from hackers asking you to click on a link or log in somewhere. ‘The TU/e will not send these kinds of emails,’ says the university.
Cyber attacks, targeted or not, on colleges, universities and research institutes are more prevalent. The weakest link in ICT systems is usually the user, who may click on suspicious links or choose weak passwords.
Last August, research funding body NWO suffered an attack. Personal data of 530 thousand people were stolen at the University of Arnhem and Nijmegen in 2021.
Hostage software
But the most notorious attack took place at Maastricht University. During the Christmas holidays of the 2019/2020 academic year, systems there were taken hostage. The university eventually decided to pay a ransom because of the damage to teaching and research. (HOP, BB)
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