Vanderbilt Restricts Systems During Cybersecurity Investigation

Vanderbilt University is investigating an active cybersecurity incident and has restricted access to most campus systems after directing students, faculty and staff to shut down university devices and disconnect from campus Wi-Fi. The university has not confirmed whether data was stolen or files were encrypted, while a group calling itself BYOD claims it took sensitive information.

Vanderbilt said its Information Technology team was working to contain the incident, which may affect university devices, systems and cloud services. On Nov. 9, it instructed students, faculty and staff to power down university devices and disconnect from the network. Users who noticed suspicious activity were told not to investigate or troubleshoot it themselves and to contact the IT Service Desk using a separate device or telephone.

In a later update on Monday, Vanderbilt said campus Wi-Fi was available again, but access to most university systems and applications remained restricted. The university said classes and operations would follow their normal schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and planned to provide another update that morning. It had not announced when access to restricted systems would be...