Eindhoven’s Technical University (TU/e) is in the midst of recovering from a hack. Although the attack took place as early as Saturday, Jan. 11, the effects will be felt for a long time by the university with significant ties to ASML.
All exams have been postponed to Jan. 27. Originally, they were supposed to take place this coming Monday (Jan. 20). Last Sunday, parking systems, cash registers and internal telephones, among others, stopped working because the network was taken offline by TU/e’s IT department.
Forced offline
For now, TU/e can only share results from the preliminary phase of the internal investigation into the cyberattack. In it, the university found no evidence of a successful attempt to install ransomware, encrypt documents or steal data. “From the investigation, the picture emerges that the hackers were caught red-handed last weekend, and that worse was prevented by the resolute intervention of our IT experts,” adds Vice President of the Board of Trustees Patrick Groothuis.
The incident was first discovered at 9 p.m. on Saturday evening. Despite the fact that the hackers were said to have been caught immediately, TU/e is adding an extra 24/7 monitoring layer to its own IT systems. This should prevent another such hack, although that can never be guaranteed. Incidentally, the university was initially somewhat uncertain about the IT outage in its initial communications; it only went so far as to report that the incident had “all the hallmarks of a cyber attack.” For now, no lasting damage seems to have occurred. Still, the investigation is ongoing.
Unfortunate consequences
Groothuis initially announced in the press release on Sunday, “We realize that turning off the network has unfortunate consequences, for all our students, staff, but also for others on campus.” The “necessary” intervention was done to prevent a worse scenario, Groothuis explained. The first move was to cancel all teaching activities for Monday, which rolled over into Tuesday and then the entire week.
The cyber attack on TU Eindhoven is not unique. There have been more incidents in the past, including an incident in 2022 in which TU Eindhoven students and employees were affected by a data breach. It underlines the importance of robust IT infrastructure and good preparation for possible cyber attacks in the education sector.
On top of that, TU Eindhoven is a relatively straightforward target. It works closely with chip company ASML, multiple chip industry parties and other advanced technology players, which means a country like China or Russia may have an interest in the internal data. Ultimately, the identity may yet be uncovered by TU/e, and we hope they’ll share the details if they do find the perpetrators.
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