TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY DUBLIN has said its Tallaght campus was the victim of a “significant” ransomware attack last week.
The Tallaght campus’ entire on-site ICT systems were subject to an attack early on Thursday, and an investigation by technical experts and An Garda Síochána is now underway.
The University said there is no indication yet that any data, including personal data, has been “ex-filtrated, downloaded, copied or edited”.
The ICT systems or processes on TU Dublin’s city and Blanchardstown campuses are not thought to be affected by the breach.
“Staff and students on the Tallaght campus will continue to have secure remote access to our main ICT systems while systems on our City and Blanchardstown campuses have not been affected by the incident,” a spokesperson for TU Dublin said.
“The University continues to work as a matter of urgency to restore safe access for students and staff to all our onsite ICT systems as soon as possible.”
According to an email sent to students, seen by TheJournal, the south Dublin campus still does not currently have user access to its main ICT systems and back-ups on campus due to the malware encryption put on its systems during the attack.
The University said it is collating all relevant information to fully co-operate with the relevant statutory authorities.
“Computer Services in Tallaght, with colleagues across the University and with support from external cybersecurity, technical and legal experts, are currently investigating the source and impact of this attack on our systems, as well as working to return access for all users as soon as possible,” Tallaght Campus Principal Thomas Stone said in an email to students.
“I can assure you we are all doing everything possible to have our systems secured and back to normal as soon as possible. Further information will be provided by regular updates in the coming days as well as in consultation with the Student Union.”
The university said cloud-based services appear unaffected but are being reviewed and that it understands that devices used through its cloud-based systems have not been compromised by this malware and this continues to be the case.
Due to the on-ongoing review of its systems, it said there may be disruptions to these services in the coming days and minor levels of functionality in each of these systems may not be available.
An Garda Síochána have been contacted for comment
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