Okanagan College (OC) was the target of a cyberattack on Jan. 9.

A letter from college president Neil Fassina updating the situation was made available to the media Wednesday (Jan. 11).

sa国际传媒淥n Monday morning, at about 6:15 a.m. our IT Services team interrupted a cybersecurity incident. This incident, which involved an unrecognized external agent, was identified by our teamsa国际传媒檚 routine and proactive surveillance.sa国际传媒�

Fassina said network access across all campuses was disabled within 45 minutes, and an investigation into the attack is underway. OC has also brought in external cybersecurity experts to help.

sa国际传媒淯nfortunately, as a result of the cyberattack, our network services continue to be offline and this morning, the outage has impacted our public website and learning management site (Moodle). It has also impacted our ability to send all-user emails to our students and staff.sa国际传媒�

OC is trying to determine whether any personal information has been compromised, and out of an abundance of caution, is notifying the community of the attack.

sa国际传媒淧lease be assured that we take privacy and the protection of personal information of our students and staff very seriously,sa国际传媒� added Fissina. sa国际传媒淲e are working very hard to restore secure access as soon as possible.sa国际传媒�

OC recommends students and staff protect themselves from the risk of identity theft or fraud by doing the following:

• If you receive unusual emails or text messages in the days ahead claiming to be from Okanagan College and asking for personal information that you were not expecting, please be vigilant;
• Do not send personal information unless you are confident the communication is authentic;
• Never respond to any unsolicited requests for your financial information and stay aware of unauthorized transactions related to any of your accounts.

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gary.barnes@kelownacapnews.com
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