One of the North Dakota University System’s computer servers was the victim of a cyber attack.
The system’s information technology arm discovered it February 7th. It appears it was an off-shore entity, using the server as a launching pad to attack other computers and sending out “phishing” e-mails.
University System Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen says the server was immediately shut down. However, he says it had records of nearly 291-thousand current and former students, as well as faculty and staff. Skogen says there was no bank account information on that server, and there’s no evidence that any of the personal information was compromised.
"As a precautionary measure, NDUS is alerting these students, former students, faculty and staff, and the public, about the incident," Skogen said in a conference call with reporters. "NDUS is providing resources to safeguard against potential identity theft."
Skogen says the system will provide identity protection services for one year for all those who want to use it.
"It is very unfortunate that this happened," said Skogen. "Security of our student information, and that of our faculty and staff, is of utmost importance to us. We are doing everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again."
But Skogen says university servers have become a common target for these kinds of cyber-attacks.
Skogen says a special Web site has been set up to provide updates to anyone who might be affected. He says you can get there from the system’s main Website, at ndus.edu.
