Columbia student information at risk in ransomware attack – The Columbia Chronicle


Columbia student information at risk in ransomware attack – The Columbia Chronicle

Shane Tolentino

Columbia is the latest victim in an attack by a group of data hackers known as NetWalker that is threatening to publish students’ private data and sell their personal information on the dark web.

NetWalker is a “family” of ransomware, which is malware that encrypts files and blocks a person or company from accessing their own data. The hackers behind the attacks often threaten to publish victims’ sensitive information unless a ransom is paid.

Reports by Bloomberg and Inside Higher Ed this week revealed that Columbia, along with Michigan State University and the University of California, San Francisco, have all been targeted and given a deadline of six days to pay the ransom.

According to a Thursday, June 4 post in EdScoop, a site that covers educational technology, hackers threatened to expose files containing “highly sensitive data like social security numbers and other private information,” on the dark web unless their demands were met.

This breach appears to pose a threat to expose student and faculty information, which is contradictory to what the college said earlier this week, stating that to the best of the school’s knowledge, “no information was taken from the college’s servers,” as reported by the Chronicle Tuesday, June 2.

Kathie Koch, associate vice president and CIO, was not available for comment as of press time.

According to the Chicago Police Department, no formal reports have been made in regards to ransomware attacks at Columbia.

Many hackers have been taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to disseminate new varieties of ransomware, according to Cynet, a cyber-security company.

A 2019 report by Emisoft, a cyber research firm, found that last year operations at 1,233 schools across the U.S. were impacted in some way by ransomware attacks. In some cases these hacks, which have reached an “extreme level” of threat, meant thousands of server and device shutdowns and lost grades.

More updates to come.


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