Vanderbilt students logged on to school computers to hear a cryptic message this week: "You have been compromised."
On Monday morning, the university realized it had been hacked, with the audio message being embedded into its systems.
'If you could not tell already, your databases are locked.'
After realizing the school's computer system had been compromised, university IT teams reportedly went from classroom to classroom telling students and faculty to close Microsoft Word documents and disconnect from cloud services like OneDrive and Dropbox.
The breach was first discovered at 9:50 a.m. CT on Monday, school newspaper the Vanderbilt Hustler reported, with hackers leaving an audio warning to users across campus: "You have been compromised by BYOD. We suggest you reach out to us as soon as possible. Instructions have been placed on your desktop. Failure to communicate will result in this estate being brought to the ground completely. Make the right choice or rot with the wrong one," an automated voice stated.
Ransomware group BYOD claimed responsibility for the breach and posted a threatening message warning Vanderbilt that the entire network had been downloaded, including private student information.
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"If you could not tell already, your databases are locked. We have your entire estate and research data. Over 1 million [Social Security numbers], full names, email addresses, phone numbers, student & employee records, full takeover of your DC, whatever was on your network, we possess," the statement read, per Ransomware.live.
The statement concluded, "Anyways, you know where to find us (contact tab). We will take you down when communication has been established between our team and yours."
This is at least the second university hack BYOD has claimed responsibility for in the last week. Michigan State University was victim of a hack recently that BYOD claimed had taken data related to 1.3 million current and former students.
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Vanderbilt students began expressing their frustration in the late hours of Monday night. The student government asked leadership for answers but stated they have not received adequate communication.
This came after the school said it would operate as normal on Tuesday, posting generic messages on its social media accounts asking faculty to "teach classes as scheduled."
The university had previously asked students to disconnect from school Wi-Fi and be extremely vigilant if on their networks.
"Students are concerned about the cyberattacks and extortion threats, particularly what information was stolen, how it may be used, and how it could affect them personally," the student government said in a statement. "We are frustrated by the university's lack of clear communication, and our priority is ensuring that students receive timely updates and are not academically penalized for circumstances beyond their control."
As of Tuesday morning, the student paper said little information had been provided by the school's public safety team, but added that campus Wi-Fi and applications like Outlook, Zoom, and Google accounts were now safe to use.
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[H/T Blaze Media]
