WASHINGTON — Howard University canceled classes Tuesday and shut down campus WiFi due to a ransomware cyberattack that hit their network, according to a letter sent out to the school community.
The institution's information technology team is actively investigating the activity and shut down all networks, officials said in the letter. The school is also working with the FBI and D.C. city government officials to get a clear understanding of what happened.
The school said Enterprise Technology Services and their entities are working to urgently fix the issue. It is still unknown when the system will be restored and school officials have reiterated that, "after an incident of this kind, is a long haul – not an overnight solution."
In a follow-up email, sent out Tuesday afternoon, the school community was told that an alternative Wi-Fi system is being deployed on campus but the school does not believe that the alternative system will be available by Wednesday.
As for classes and other school-related activities on Wednesday, officials had the following information available for students and faculty:
- All online and hybrid undergraduate courses remain suspended Wednesday. The physical campus will be open to essential employees only.
- All in-person undergraduate, graduate, professional, and clinical experiential courses will resume as scheduled Wednesday. Course lecture content requiring internet access on campus may not be available.
- Faculty with alternative Wi-Fi connection options (i.e. hot spots), will be able to access online academic modules and apps and can coordinate class convening via a university-approved platform
- The add/drop deadline for courses will be extended.
School officials said as of Tuesday morning, they do not have evidence that personal information has been retrieved. They are still looking to determine what was exactly accessed. In the meantime, the school is installing additional safety measures to protect personal data.
Classes are canceled but the campus is open to essential employees only. Nonessential employees should remain home.
The school community will still be able to access some applications, but a few apps may not be accessible for use, officials said.
School officials will provide an update every day at 2 p.m. regarding the status of the cyberattack.
Howard University is asking its school community to report any information or suspicious activity to helpdesk@howard.edu.
This story is developing. WUSA9 will continue to provide the latest update as additional information becomes available.