Operational disruptions at UCPH
Correction regarding report of a new attack
Update on 27 October at 11:00:
Initially, the assessment yesterday was that an entirely new cyberattack had taken place. However, later in the evening it was determined that this was not a new attack, but rather activity within the system that initially appeared to indicate a new attack.
This revised assessment of the incident does not, however, reduce the necessity of the preventive and controlled shutdown initiated by the University of Copenhagen, which remains linked to the original cyberattack. As a result, some of the university’s systems continue to experience disruptions.
The University of Copenhagen has no further comments on the matter at this time.
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Operational disruptions at UCPH
Update on 26 October at 17.50:
Right now, there are operational disruptions on several administrative systems, e.g. Workzone and Nimbus.
This is a preventive and controlled shutdown of the administrative systems in question, as UCPH was exposed to a new hacker attack earlier Monday. There may be challenges accessing UCPH's websites.
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PIN codes compromised
Update on 25 October at 20.00:
As a result of the cyber attack, the PIN codes for some of the affected staff and students’ ID cards have been compromised. This concerns the PIN codes of approximately 20,000 people, who have therefore been issued with new PIN codes.
This is not a new data breach or a new cyberattack in relation to what was communicated on 23 October. For security reasons, UCPH simply chose not to communicate about the compromised ID cards until the PIN codes had been changed.
Following a security assessment, the University of Copenhagen decided on Friday evening (23 October) to restrict physical access to selected critical locations on campus.
Now that new PIN codes have been issued for the compromised cards, these locations have been reopened.
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University of Copenhagen hit by cyber attack
Original news from 23 October at 20.05:
The University of Copenhagen has confirmed a cyber attack in which hackers gained access to one of the university’s test environments. The attack was detected on Tuesday and was subsequently brought under control.
There is no indication that the hackers gained access to systems supporting day-to-day operations. Nor is there any evidence that the university’s activities or operations have been affected by the incident.
Access has been blocked, and the university is working intensively to establish the full extent of the incident and to prevent similar or further attacks from taking place.
The hackers have gained access to information on approximately 525,000 individuals. The database contains personally identifiable information such as full name, national identity number, work telephone number, home telephone number and personal email address. The university is therefore in the process of analysing the precise extent of the data breach.
The University estimates that the incident falls within the scope of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the matter is being handled in accordance with applicable regulations. The incident has been reported to the Danish Data Protection Agency, and other relevant authorities are being kept closely informed.
Further information will be provided once a clearer picture of the incident has emerged.