Some students still experiencing issues after University of Guelph data breach

U of G cyber attack concerns continue Students voice their concerns about the data breach at UofG in September. Carmen Wong reports.

University of Guelph students are voicing their concerns about continuing problems after the Sept. 11 data breach.

Evin Haskan told CTV News he had trouble with his student account.

“I couldn’t access this at all,” he said. “It wouldn’t let me log into my CourseLink.”

Haskan only regained access after a long wait with the university’s IT desk, who told him his account was locked after the cyber attack.

“You should be able to trust your university account, right?”

The data breach was first detected on Sept. 11. While the school said it's IT systems are “largely operational”, they’ve since learned that “limited information” was compromised.

The university has not shared what type of data was accessed.

Haskan is calling for more transparency from the school.

“It’s worrying because I do keep a lot of personal information on my University of Guelph student account.”

In a statement, the school stated it is “conducting a thorough review of the affected data on a priority basis.”

Students said their professors were also affected by the breach, and it’s hurting their education.

“It’s super stressful considering I’m on the path of graduating, and there’s still three out of my five courses that I still have no info on,” said Jared Edwards, another University of Guelph student.

CTV News reached out to the school but they declined to comment, adding that they will provide more information when it becomes available.

“That really is a door open that says: ‘We’re not ready, or we don’t know what to tell you.’ Which is troublesome at times,” said Michael Castro, the president of cyber security firm RiskAware.

He said the potential breach of student and employee records is concerning but a locked account doesn’t necessarily mean sensitive information was taken.

“The university may have very well have turned things off to mitigate or reduce the damage, or to protect what was in there,” explained Castro.

The University of Guelph said it will be in direct contact with anyone whose personal information may have been involved. Once notified, they will provide recommended actions. Anyone with questions or concerns is also asked to contact the school.

Haskan said the university needs to do a better job of protecting its students.

“They are kind of handling it on a case-to-case basis when they should work on making their security better so that students feel safer in a cyber security setting on campus.”