University of Winnipeg students, staff and faculty are being directed to reset their passwords to help regain access to critical internal systems just weeks before exams are set to begin, one week after a cyber attack brought down the university’s online network.
Anyone with a university email is asked to monitor their inbox for instructions on the campus-wide reset.
“It’s in your hands folks, we need your help to get these password resets as quickly as possible,” Kim Benoit, chief information officer for the university, during a Monday afternoon Zoom town hall hosted by the U of W.
With the reset, the university can begin restoring what they call “priority” systems such as WebAdvisor, financial information systems and Nexus, the school’s learning-management system, in which many professors store and disseminate the bulk of their curriculum.
Benoit said students and staff will receive an email later this afternoon with directions. The university will issue a 48-hour window for the reset before directing a forced reboot.
The university is also in the midst of a forensic audit to identify the source of the hack, which should be complete in the next few weeks, said university president Todd Mondor.
The winter term was extended to April 12 over the weekend. The university has advised students to check with their instructors to find out if their course has been extended to make up for the online disruptions.
Exams were also pushed back another week; the exam period is now scheduled to take place April 18-May 2. The start of exams was initially delayed to early April, and the university made the decision last week to give students more time to prepare in the aftermath of the cyber attack.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk.