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MTU was blackmailed, and a significant amount of money was demanded by suspected Russian hacking group, ALPHV aka BLACKCAT or NOBERUS.

According to TheJournal.ie; ‘The High Court was told the group threatened to publish confidential information about the students and staff of MTU.’

Update from MTU (8th February:)

MTU’s Cork campuses will reopen on Monday, 13-Feb-2023, and classes will operate in line with existing timetables. Students and staff members should check their email accounts and campus notice boards on a regular basis for details of return-to-campus guidance and updates.

Following extensive and ongoing initial investigations MTU can confirm that its Cork campuses have been targeted in a cyber attack. The Kerry campuses of MTU remain unaffected. The incident was detected by our IT security systems last weekend with immediate steps being taken to intercept and manage the incident. The incident resulted in the encryption of certain MTU systems for the purpose of demanding a ransom.

Following this incident we have been in close and ongoing contact with the National Cyber Security Centre, the Data Protection Commission, an Garda Síochána and other relevant stakeholders including government departments.

We have engaged highly specialised services and have been working closely with the expert national authorities and our security partners in immediately instigating a dual process to investigate the cause and extent of the attack as well as the safest and most efficient recovery process.

The nature and extent of this incident, including what data may have been breached, remains under investigation. Students and staff do not need to take any action at this time and MTU will notify any affected individuals in line with our data protection obligations.

While it is still early in this process we are following all appropriate protocols and procedures in order to minimise and mitigate any impact that this incident may have and to facilitate the restoration of our education services as a top priority. We wish to reassure students and staff that we are looking at all of our options as part of this dynamic and evolving situation.

We appreciate the patience of all students, staff and stakeholders while we complete this vital work.