Ransomware Attack Forces Howard University To Cancel Classes

WASHINGTON, DC — Howard University canceled classes on Tuesday after the university experienced a ransomware attack last Friday. The university said its physical campus will be open to essential employees only on Tuesday.

The university’s information technology team shut down the school’s network to mitigate any potential “criminal activity” after detecting unusual activity, it said. Howard University has a total of about 9,500 undergraduate and graduate students.

“Based on the investigation and the information we have to date, we know the University has experienced a ransomware cyberattack,” the university said in a news release.

Howard University said it is working to restore operations as quickly as possible. “But please consider that remediation, after an incident of this kind, is a long haul — not an overnight solution," the university said.

To date, there has been no evidence of personal information being accessed. “However, our investigation remains ongoing, and we continue to work toward clarifying the facts surrounding what happened and what information has been accessed,” Howard University said.

Howard University’s campus Wi-Fi will remain down until it determines the safest path to activate it.

Each day at 2 p.m., the university said it will let the university community know the status of campus operations for the next day.