CNN
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The University of Michigan has been completely without internet access for two days after staff shut down the school’s connections in response to a “critical issue.” [cyber]”Safety concerns” on the eve of the new school year.
The internet outage will affect campus IT systems used for research and funding, and could delay the repayment of financial aid, the university said Monday.
Computers on campus are usually disconnected from the public internet, but students were finding a workaround with their cell phones. An updated statement Tuesday afternoon said staff were making progress to allow students to access resources from off-campus computer networks, but that recovery was underway.
The school, which has about 50,000 students at its flagship Ann Arbor campus, acknowledged the “huge inconvenience” the internet outage caused at the beginning of the new school year.
“The loss of internet access and other business functions throughout the University of Michigan community has cast an unfortunate cloud over what should have been a bright and sunny start to the academic year,” University of Michigan President Santa Ono said in a statement. Stated.
Katherine Kiesling, a dance and computer engineering senior at the University of Michigan, had trouble accessing lecture materials online because of internet problems and had to return to her off-campus apartment to work between classes. He said he had to.
“I expect to have to go back to my apartment this week to get some work done,” Kiesling told CNN on Tuesday.
The cause of the blackout was unknown. A statement from the university suggests that malicious cyber activity was to blame. University spokeswoman Kim Burghuizen said there was no additional information to share beyond the university’s public statement.
The incident occurred weeks after the White House held a meeting. high profile meetings K-12 school administrators stress the need to protect their schools from ransomware and other hacks as they head into the new school year.
Elementary and middle schools often lack the resources to protect themselves, but cybercrime is hampering even large and small universities.
The predominantly black Lincoln University in central Illinois was forced to close permanently last year after cyberattacks and the coronavirus pandemic hit its finances.
This story has been updated with additional information.