Regis University's information technology services shut down last week due to a "malicious threat" likely from outside the United States, according to The Denver Post. The university's IT system went down during summer school finals and remained inactive during the arrival of fall semester students on campus Monday.
The cyberattack shut down Regis' website, phone lines, email services and online programs that students use to submit work, the university stated. It also led the university to create a supplementary web page, regisupdates.com, to communicate with students and faculty.
University officials have initiated an investigation into the cyberattack. However, they have declined to say if the cyberattack involved ransomware. Reports have not disclosed whether the university is or was working with an MSSP (managed security services provider).
Regis is a Jesuit university based in Colorado. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of nearly 4,000 students.
College Cyberattacks on the Rise
In addition to Regis, New York's Monroe College and Massachusetts' Cape Cod Community College recently experienced cyberattacks.
Cybercriminals last month locked Monroe students and faculty out of the college’s website, learning management system and email system and demanded roughly $2 million in Bitcoin to restore access. Monroe's website and systems have been restored, but details have not been released about whether the school paid the ransom.
Meanwhile, hackers last year used a phishing attack to steal more than $800,000 from Cape Cod Community College's bank accounts. Ernst & Young, which has a Top 100 MSSP business unit, and the state of Massachusetts' comptroller's office investigated the cyberattack, and the school has since recovered more than $677,500 in funds from the incident.
