Additional groups affected by pre-exam cyberattack: U of W

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This article was published 15/08/2024 (430 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg says an investigation has determined additional data was compromised in a cyberattack that shut down the post-secondary institution in the spring.

U of W Collegiate students, donors to the university and harassment/sexual violence complainants are additional groups who may have had personal information stolen in the March 24 hack, an updated list on the school’s website states.

People who provided health information related to complaints over discrimination, harassment, sexual violence or a security incident between 2015 and 2024 were also impacted, the updated list says.

An assortment of international students, contractors, prospective students, honour nominees, position applicants, some event attendees and interns may have also had their data stolen.

The university said Thursday it had completed its investigation into the hack.

“It is disturbing that higher education institutions like the university and other public sector organizations are being targeted by cyberattacks. This has been a terrible incident that has directly impacted our community,” U of W said in a statement.

Initially, it was thought various students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs, current and former employees of the university and students who were issued T4A forms were the only groups affected.

The university said the data was stolen from an encrypted “O” drive that was limited to authorized users.

University spokesperson Caleb Zimmerman said those who think they may have been affected should look through the university’s online notification page to see if they are included in one of the groups listed. If they are, they are eligible to receive two years of credit monitoring service from the institution. A news release also said any questions can be directed to incident.support@uwinnipeg.ca.

Zimmerman declined to answer questions about who was responsible for the cyberattack, saying the purpose of this investigation was to find out what additional groups may have been impacted.

In April, U of W president Todd Mondor said the university was undergoing a forensic analysis of the hack to identify its source.

The tech hack locked students, faculty and staff out of their email and internal systems for nearly two weeks ahead of final exams and forced the university to push back its winter term.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca