Cybersecurity and eCampus breach
Oregon State University (OSU) is located in Corvallis, OR. As with most universities and schools, there is a virtual option for the students, so they don’t have to attend full time. OSU is no different. The university has in place its own Ecampus, the online education program.
Attack
The attack occurred this summer and was detected on July 27, 2020. The attackers were able to breach and compromise a server on the OSU Ecampus. After this was detected, OSU began its investigation. The university also contacted state and federal authorities on this matter. As part of the process, the FBI was also contacted. The hope is with all this assistance the university and law enforcement are able to find the attackers and also decipher how this happened.
Data
The breach affected approximately 1,700 students and faculty members. The server had their personal information, which was accessed. The records accessed contained names, and OSU email addresses. While this is not optimal, this would not be classified as critical. With other instances, the person’s personal mailing addresses, and phone numbers may have been exposed. This brings the issue to a new level. Fortunately, there were no social security numbers or financial data involved.
Post-Breach
OSU immediately had begun to mitigate the security issues detected so this would not happen in the same way again. The compromised server was updated to remove the cybersecurity issues and placed back online. The university has notified the affected students and staff. They are offering free credit monitoring and other services. Oddly, this is not the first time there has been a breach in recent history with the university. The last breach was in May 2019 and affected 630 records. While the details of the attack method were not disclosed, this is another example of why cybersecurity is so important.
Resources
Albany Democrat-Herald. (2020, September 3). Computer breach at OSU exposes personal info of 1,700 students and faculty.
New Haven Register. (2020, September 4). Computer breach at OSU exposes personal info of 1,700. Retrieved from https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Computer-breach-at-OSU-exposes-personal-info-of=15542681.php
The Associated Press. (2020, September 5). Computer breach at OSU exposes personal info of 1,700. Retrieved from https://www.kezi.com/content/news/computer-breach-at-OSU-exposes-personal-info-of-1700-572.330491.html, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oregon/articles/2020-09-04/computer-breach-at-osu-exposes-personal-info-of-1-700, and https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/computer-breach-at-osu-exposes-personal-info-of-1700/