WSU investigates hacking attempt

PULLMAN – Washington State University administrators announced this week they are trying to thwart a sophisticated hacking attempt that was detected more than a month ago.

Students and staff were notified Thursday evening that administrators “became aware” of suspicious activity in the university’s email and directory systems July 8. The university said it swiftly launched an investigation with help from federal investigators and a private cybersecurity firm.

The university said it has found no evidence the hackers have accessed sensitive data like Social Security numbers and banking information. But they may have stolen user names and passwords that students and staff use to access their university email accounts; the same information is used to access MyWSU, the site where students manage their class schedules and financial aid.

Students and staff are being urged to change their passwords. The university warned that some services may be interrupted as it works to flush the hackers from computer systems.

In the statement sent to students and staff, Interim President Daniel Bernardo said it waited to notify students and staff in order to avoid tipping off the hackers to the investigation.

“It was important that we keep our attackers unaware of our course of action until initial counter-measures were underway,” the statement said.

WSU spokeswoman Kathy Barnard declined to say if there’s any indication where the hackers are located. “Because it’s still under active investigation, I’m really not at liberty to discuss those kinds of details,” she said.

Matt Skinner, an associate vice president, declined to name the federal agencies and security firm investigating the breach. He also declined to say when the initial breach may have occurred. Attempts to reach an FBI spokesperson Friday were unsuccessful.

In an emailed statement, Skinner said the university will employ new software and “eliminate compromised communication channels” to avoid future breaches.

“Looking forward, WSU will be moving faculty and staff email services to the secure cloud,” the statement said. “Student email services are already operating in the secure cloud and, as such, have been shielded from this incident.”

Barnard noted the breach is among the latest in a series of cyberattacks on American universities. According to a July 2013 article in the New York Times, millions of attacks each year are thought to originate in China.

Officials announced late last month that hackers in China may have stolen the Social Security numbers and credit card details of up to 6,000 students and staff at the University of Connecticut. Last week, the University of Virginia announced that hackers had accessed the email accounts of professors whose work is related to China.