Emergency shutdown as top tech university grapples with cyberattack

The cyberattack has knocked Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) back to the pre-internet era, forcing the university to cancel classes for thousands of students.

TU/e, a top-ten tech university in Europe, is battling a major cyberattack. The attack knocked out the organizations‘ network-related systems, rendering educational activities impossible. Not only will students not be able to crunch the numbers, but the attack also knocked down the canteen and emergency number.

“We realize that turning off the network has unpleasant consequences for all our students, and employees, but also for other parties on campus. This necessary intervention was taken to prevent it from getting worse,” Patrick Groothuis, vice-chairman of the uni’s executive board said.

While employees and students may come on campus, 21st-century services such as e-mails, WiFi, Teams, and Canvas will not work. The attack even disrupted the parking system, prompting the university to keep the barriers open as long as the attacks’ fallout persists.

There’s no food for students either, as the attacks knocked down canteen registers. The only silver lining is that the coffee machines on campus are still operational.

TU/e’s IT staff learned about the attack late Saturday after noticing “suspicious activity” on the university’s servers. To prevent attackers from digging deeper, system guardians opted to take down the network completely. So far, university officials claim, there’s no indication that any data was stolen.

Staff and students were warned to stay wary of phishing emails, as cybercrooks often try to capitalize on chaos resulting from hacking events.

Malicious actors often target educational organizations, which house troves of sensitive personal data and valuable intellectual property. Hitting TU/e could unlock a jackpot for attackers, as the Dutch university is in partnership with the crucial global chip maker, ASML.

The Eindhoven-based TU/e employs nearly 4,000 and has nearly 13,000 students enrolled. The institution is ranked 7th among Europe’s universities of technology.