On Feb. 6, the University of Central Missouri’s Warrensburg and Lee’s Summit Missouri Innovation Campuses experienced interruptions in university information systems due to an attempted cyber breach. This breach was confirmed to be a part of a larger attempted cyber breach affecting entities in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. The university partnered with the FBI, local law enforcement and state agencies to restore service to university information systems. Internet access, UCM email, Blackboard, and MyCentral were restored to the Warrensburg Campus on Feb. 8. During the outage, students adapted to the evolving circumstances.
UCM confirmed through the UCM News Bureau on Feb. 7 that this situation is contained and that students could expect the shutdown of all information technology systems for most of the afternoon while they worked to resolve the issue. Students and staff were instructed to prepare for information systems to remain inoperational for up to 48 hours following the initial shutdown.
UCM continuously updated students through official social media channels the following week. The university said in a Facebook update at 2:13 pm on Feb. 7, “There continues to be no indication that student and employee personal information has been compromised. Students, faculty and staff are reminded to continue to monitor their personal information.” While there is no indication that personal information was compromised, the university is working with local and federal law enforcement to determine those responsible for the breach.
“For anybody who’s affected, we only hope that through the justice system, we are able to find out who did [it] and make them accountable for what they’ve done,” Director of Communication and Media Relations, Jeff Murphy, said. Students and faculty were all affected by the attempted breach in different ways.
“My professors were unable to lecture in class without access to their presentations and my online class was shut down from being able to do anything the entire week,” Senior Tommy Dreiling said. Dreiling was not the only student who was affected in this way.
Other students were left unable to submit assignments and thus due dates were moved. “The cyber attack affected me a lot. It pushed assignments back, but it’s crazy how UCM can just shut down like that,” Senior Joseph Pereira said. Despite the hardships imposed, the Office of Technology worked to resolve the situation.
“[The Office of Technology] has done a fantastic job responding to this issue and [we are] very grateful for all the work they’ve done. Putting in lots and lots of extra hours,” Murphy said.
