Duisburg/Essen (dpa/lnw) - After the hacker attack on the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) last weekend, teaching at the university with over 40,000 students is still massively hampered. The entire IT, including landline telephony, is still not available, said university spokeswoman Birte Vierjahn on Wednesday.
The university has set up a new website for its students and employees, which is slowly being filled with content, the spokeswoman said. Telephone contacts, for example between lecturers and students, often took place via work and private cell phones. The university also provides information via social media. Classroom lectures continue, but digital access to teaching material, registering and de-registering for exams, and uploading work are not yet working.
During the attack, hackers penetrated the internal systems, encrypted large parts and demanded a ransom, it was said. The university had shut down the IT, informed the responsible security authorities and reported it.
The investigations were carried out by the central and contact point for cybercrime (ZAC) at the Cologne public prosecutor's office. The investigations into computer sabotage and extortion are still in their infancy and are aimed at unknown persons, said local spokesman Christoph Hebbecker. He expects a process lasting months, presumably also with international references.
The authority generally advises against paying ransoms, if only because they don't support the blackmailers' business model. In previous cases, six-digit sums or payments of up to a mid-double-digit million amount were required.
How long it will take for the damage to be repaired cannot currently be foreseen, said the university spokeswoman. "We're working under high pressure."
