University of Western Australia resets all staff and student passwords

The University of Western Australia is forcing a password reset for all staff and students after the apparent breach of a system holding “password information”. 

In a statement on its homepage, the university said it had “detected unauthorised access to university password information.”

“As a security measure, all staff and students have been locked out of UWA systems and are required to reset their passwords to gain access,” it said.

The university said that investigations into the apparent breach are still underway, although it did not think other systems or information were accessed. 

Its IT and security teams spent the weekend containing the incident, before moving to recovery and investigation, a spokesperson told iTnews.

"The university immediately took preventative action to maintain security and is notifying its staff and students regarding these countermeasures, and we have notified the appropriate authorities," the spokesperson said. 

It appears the university runs a central access management system for staff, students and visitors, but the spokesperson would not confirm whether or not this system was the one targeted.