A cyber-attack at Roanoke College in in Salem, Virginia has caused the school to hold off on the start of their spring semester. Students were originally scheduled to return on January 19th, 2021, but due to the delay, they are now looking at a February 8th return date. The attack occurred on December 12th and caused the college to shut down its network, subsequently allowing for them to carry out an investigation. The official cause of the attack has not yet been revealed but some analysts are speculating that it was a ransomware incident. Officials from the school told students and staff to refrain from using the devices on the campus network. A portion of a statement from the school read, “IT is working to restore the contents of personal Z: drives and departmental X: drives. However, we do not yet have a restore-from date identified nor a target date for the restoration work to occur. As of now, it appears that users will not lose the contents of these drives as a result of the Cyber incident.” More information should come to light as the investigation continues in the coming weeks.
Analyst Notes
While the official cause of the cyber-attack has not been released yet, it is important for companies to have a proper incident response plan in place for when incidents like these occur. We recommend a defense-in-depth strategy to provide multiple opportunities to detect and prevent cyber-attacks. Analysts in the Security Operations Center at Binary Defense will monitor endpoints on a 24/7 365 basis and quickly respond to any intrusions when they are detected. As mentioned in the source article, educational institutions have been increasingly targeted over the past year and it is likely that it will continue.
Source: bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/roanoke-college-delays-spring-semester-after-cyberattack/?&web_view=true
