Laurentian University confirms February ‘cyber incident’ was a ransomware attack

The February incident that devastated Laurentian University’s IT systems was a ransomware attack, the school said in response to a freedom of information request from CTV News Northern Ontario.

 “The university received a ransom demand,” the school said in a letter dated July 12.

“The university did not pay a ransom.”

Threat actors gained access to the university’s IT systems through a user account, LU said.

“The university has not confirmed how the threat actor(s) accessed the account.”

CTV filed the FOI after Laurentian declined to confirm that a ransom was demanded during the attack, which was reported Feb. 18.

LU is one of many institutions that has been victimized by ransomware attacks in recent years, but the impact on the university was particularly severe.

Its website was down for an extended period and online courses were affected, along with WiFi and other related technologies. A new website was set up to keep the community informed about recovery efforts.

Cyber attacks have become increasingly common in the province, such as one on the City of Hamilton around the same time as Laurentian was affected.

The Hamilton ransomware attack took place Feb. 25 and plagued city services, including telephone lines, transit schedules, tax services and Ontario Works and Special Supports.

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The City of Huntsville suffered a similar attack in March.

In its response to CTV’s FOI request, Laurentian said since the attack, it has taken several steps to prevent a similar occurrence.

For example, it has implemented new virtual private network software, reconfigured firewalls to restrict access to certain systems and completed the “implementation of a new vulnerability management solution.”