Students at a university in western Sydney have been notified of a cyber breach on their IT network, which has affected more than 7,500 staff and students.
Western Sydney University (WSU), which has several campuses in Sydney’s western suburbs, today issued a statement about the intrusion.
Unauthorized access to the university’s computer network was first identified in January 2024, the network was quickly shut down and action was taken.
Nearly 8,000 students’ personal information has been exposed after Western Sydney University was hacked
An investigation was launched and WSU discovered that the first known access was on May 17, 2023, through WSU’s Microsoft Office 365.
Some SharePoint files and emails were accessed and WSU’s Solar Car Laboratory was identified as possibly having been “used as part of the incident.”
The university has notified the 7,500 people who were affected by the breach, maintaining that “the university has not received any threats” regarding private information.
The affected students were informed on Wednesday that they had accessed the university’s computer network and a spreadsheet containing their personal data.
The university said it “detected unusual activity on its network” on Jan. 8 from a “compromised global administrator account” and immediately disabled it.
“The University has not received any demands in exchange for maintaining privacy,” WSU stated.
NSW Police and the NSW Information and Privacy Commission are working with WSU as the investigation remains ongoing.
WSU Interim Vice-Chancellor Professor Clare Pollock apologized to those affected by the cyber breach.
‘On behalf of the University, I apologize unreservedly for this incident and its impact on our community. “This is deeply regrettable and we are committed to rectifying the matter transparently and meeting our obligations,” Professor Pollock said.
‘We appreciate that this may be disruptive and we are here to support you as we work through this together. We have set up a dedicated phone line and website to answer any questions you may have.’