Internet still out at UM after threat of ‘targeted attack,’ Regent says | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #ransomware

The University of Michigan was grappling with a second day without internet on Tuesday, a situation that an expert called “highly unusual” as UM and federal officials continued to investigate a cybersecurity threat that led to the disruption.

A “significant security issue” prompted the state’s largest university to sever its server from the internet on Sunday, leading to an internet outage for students on its Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses on the first day fall classes began Monday. UM’s Flint campus was largely unaffected.

UM Regent Paul Brown, a venture capitalist who invests in early-stage technologies that often includes security technologies, said the regents have only been given a brief overview of what happened.

“It was a targeted attack on our institution,” said Brown. “With IT security, it’s not an ‘if’ but a ‘when.'”

UM has invested significantly in information security with resources and world class experts, Brown added.

“It is one of our highest priorities,” Brown said. “Our operations are so dependent on IT, both in the educational and the medical (spheres). Those operations need to run securely because of the information and data we possess.