UK: College closes all campuses for a week following ‘major’ cyber attack

Fraser Whieldon reports: A Birmingham college has closed all its campuses to students for a week following a “major” ransomware cyber attack that disabled its core IT systems. The eight sites of South and City College Birmingham will be shut and revert to online teaching from today while computer forensic specialists work to fix the problem. The college has said the government and the Information Commissioner’s Office have been informed. Read more on FE Week. They do not mention the type of ransomware but do indicate that some data was exfiltrated. A statement on their web site states: The College has suffered a major ransomware attack on our IT system which has disabled many of our core IT systems. The College buildings will be closed to students for a week from Monday 15th March to allow our IT specialists to fix the problem. On Monday 15th we will revert to online teaching for the rest of the week for all areas. We are therefore asking students to access their online lessons from Monday as during the lockdown. There may be some disruption during this time and we ask that you bear with us and contact your tutor if there are any problems. Whilst we are having these IT issues, if you would like to apply for a course or have a query regarding your application please email admissions@sccb.ac.uk Thank you for your cooperation and patience during this time. h/t, @Chum1ng0DataBreaches.netRead More