QUT alerts staff, students to data breach

Queensland University of Technology has alerted 2500 staff and 67 students that their personal information was breached in a late December incident.

Most of the university’s IT systems were taken offline, some of them for weeks, when the breach was first detected. 

The university said most have been restored, in an announcement posted last week to its website.

In the statement, QUT vice chancellor Margaret Sheil said the breached data was on a single storage drive that the attackers compromised.

“Systems used for teaching, research, student management, financial and personnel management and email have not been compromised,” the university said.

“We are obviously concerned that the attack accessed stored document files and QUT is taking all necessary actions to support those affected to prevent further illegal activity,” Sheil said.

“We have, and will continue to, directly communicate with each of the individuals, offering support through access to independent identity protection and services such as IDCARE and Equifax as well as our own wellbeing support.”

The university first announced it had detected activity “which purports to be a Royal ransomware attack” on December 23, 2022.

While its campuses reopened on schedule on January 3, its website, Blackboard learning platform, various staff support systems, and Cisco-based VPN were taken offline until mid-January.