Cyber attack Digital teaching at Ruhr-Universität can continue despite cyber attack
The computer attack with an encryption software has mainly affected the university administration. The search for the attackers and any damage continues.
Experts from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the Bochum-based IT company G-Data jointly investigate the damage caused by the external computer attacks with encryption software on RUB from 7 May 2020. One thing is certain: the learning platform Moodle, which is necessary for digital teaching in the summer semester 2020, is not affected, nor are any other instruments such as Sciebo, Zoom or RUB-Cast.
These systems run on RUB servers that are not affected by the attack or on external servers. So the good news is: digital teaching at RUB can continue as planned.
According to current knowledge, central servers are particularly affected by the hacker attack, which are needed in the RUB administration for e.g. the Windows systems Exchange and Sharepoint. This is why email traffic with the RUB administration is currently disrupted. Wherever possible, employees use other services.
All potentially affected servers have been shut down and are currently closely analysed. The decision whether and when the servers are restarted, i.e. when the RUB administration goes back to normal, will be made based on the analysis results. Due to the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, most employees are working from home anyway. Alongside the analysis, a search for possible perpetrators is also being carried out. As the investigation is ongoing, current findings cannot be published at this point.