The University of Copenhagen reported on Monday that it had been victim to a second hacking attempt, following a comprehensive hack the previous week.
However, on Tuesday, the university clarified that the announcement on Monday had been a false report, and that there had not been a second attempt. They did, however, confirm that the shutdown of administrative IT systems was still necessary.
525,000 people affected
Friday last week, the university reported it had been the victim of a hacking attack earlier that week where 525,000 people, both students and employees, had their data accessed.
Over the weekend, the university added that the PIN codes of roughly 20,000 people had been accessed. This had led the university to close access to select physical critical locations on the campus on Friday evening, as a preventative measure.
New hacking attempt
Monday this week, the university announced it was again the victim of an attempted hacking attack. This led the university to shut certain online services.
In a status update, they wrote that “This is a preventive and controlled shutdown of the relevant administrative systems, as the university was subjected to a new hacker attack earlier today. There may be difficulties accessing the University of Copenhagen’s websites.”
False alarm
The university, however, after investigation, found that it had not been the victim of a hacking attempt this week.
On their website, they reported that “It was established in the evening that it was not a new attack, but activity in the system that immediately resembled a new attack.”
They added that “The revised assessment of the incident does not, however, reduce the necessity of the preventive and controlled shutdown that the University of Copenhagen initiated, which is connected to the original hacker attack.”
Digital Post update
On Wednesday, the university also confirmed that they have sent a letter via Digital Post to the people affected by the data leak last week with details on their data security.
