U of W delays exams as it calms down staff, faculty in wake of cyber attack By: Erik Pindera and Tyler Searle Posted: 3:55 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 27, 2024 Last Modified: 3:15 PM CDT Saturday, Mar. 30, 2024 Updates

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A cyber attack that shut down the University of Winnipeg Monday will delay the end of the winter term and exams, officials said Wednesday.

“This was a targeted criminal attack,” said university president Todd Mondor, adding university officials have filed reports with the Winnipeg Police Service and the RCMP. He and other officials did not elaborate on the nature of the attack.

Officials don’t expect critical systems to be back online until next week.

At this point, the university is not aware of the loss of any personal information, the president said.

U of W chief information officer Kim Benoit said the once its technology team became aware of the attack on Sunday, it shut down all systems.

“We took the network down to protect the university and its data. Please be assured that our entire team is working very hard to address this incident and work toward restoring services for the campus community,” Benoit told the town hall, which was attended digitally by 1,000 students and faculty.

“We have retained outside assistance from experts.”

The experts are conducting a forensic examination of the attack. At this point, the university is not aware of the loss of any personal information, Mondor said.

“This was a targeted criminal attack.”–University of Winnipeg president Todd Mondor

Benoit said the goal is to have critical online services — the learning management system, the student information system, financial systems, email and Microsoft 365 products — running by early next week.

Critical systems, Benoit said, include WebAdvisor and Nexus accounts. The former allows students to access financial information, grades and register for courses, while the latter is used to store and disseminate course material.

“We appreciate that having systems unavailable is impacting everybody across the university,” said Benoit, imploring that bringing systems back online has to be done safely.

Benoit said the university’s technology team is working with the outside experts to determine if any data has been stolen.

Provost and academic vice president Pavlina Radia said the senate had approved extensions to the academic term and exam schedule Wednesday owing to the attack.

The winter term will be extended to April 12, from April 5, while exams will begin on April 18. Course registrations, which are done online, will be available as soon as services are brought back online.

Radia said faculty have been advised to flexible, adding she’s aware some students may have booked flights to go home at the end of term.

She said that all support systems, including campus residence and university bus passes, will be in place to the end of the extended term and exam period.

Benoit said the last phase of addressing the attack will include determining what happened and how, as well as how to prevent another cyber attack.

Payroll for students and faculty wasn’t affected, the officials noted.

Mondor said university officials do not think the attack will affect graduation this summer.

More than 9,000 students were told not to attend classes on Monday.

The university was able to restore campus internet services Monday night after establishing a temporary network.

Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable was briefed about the incident, her office said Tuesday.

Earlier Wednesday, frustration and speculation gripped campus.

“We are, literally, at a standstill; we can’t move ahead with anything.”–student Emily Dahl

“We are, literally, at a standstill; we can’t move ahead with anything,” said Emily Dahl, a criminal justice major in her third year.

Without access to Nexus, some classes are unable to continue and students cannot prepare for exams, Dahl said.

“It’s been kind of crazy because every professor is approaching it in a different way. They are also pretty (much) in the dark, as well,” she said, explaining how some of her classes have transitioned from mostly digital to in-person learning.

Only half of the students showed up to one of her classes on Wednesday, she said.

“I think for (some) profs, so much of the things they require are internet-based,” she said. “If they don’t have access to the resources they need to do their job, then I can understand why that would be frustrating.”

The university established a web page to provide further information about the impacts of the attack.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca