6-03-2023 8:40am

Cyber incident takes down Northeastern State University’s online services

John Dobberstein Editor

By John Dobberstein, Editor

Northeastern State University is still recovering from a cybersecurity incident a week ago that took down its website, and phone and email systems and web-based instructional tools.

NSU’s IT team became aware of the incident at about 4:30 a.m. on May 26, but the university did not report it as a cybersecurity problem until June 1.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the IT department disabled the network and began investigating the issue with the assistance of external consultants,” NSU said on Facebook last Thursday. “At this time, our consultants have found no evidence that NSU data has been stolen.

“As we move forward, the IT team is methodically working through our network to ensure we can safely reconnect enterprise systems and servers. Systems are coming online at an appropriate pace based upon established priorities.

“Please continue to be patient and understanding as we safely navigate this issue.”

NSU has been updating students and staff on its Facebook page, but as of Friday could not provide an estimate of when its network would be fully restored.

NSU said it was able to establish phone lines for the following areas:

Academic Affairs - 918-444-2060

Admissions and Recruitment - 918-444-4675

Bursar - 918-444-2160

Financial Aid - 918-444-3456

Housing - 918-444-4700

NEO Health - 918-444-2126

Optometry Clinic - 918-444-2019

Optometry Department - 918-444-4000

SOAR - 918-444-2644

Student Engagement - 918-444-2526

University Center & Auxiliary Services - 918-444-2500

Some students have still been complaining on social media about a lack of updates from the university and not being able to contact university personnel, get coursework done l or request transcripts.

On Friday, NSU said students currently enrolled in summer or intersession courses, “can take comfort in knowing the NSU faculty are flexible and are committed to working with our students to adjust for lost class time or missed deadlines for assignments. Please be patient as we work through this network challenge.”