Western Sydney Uni's IT systems compromised again

Western Sydney University's IT systems have once again fallen victim to a cyber-attack, marking the third such incident in 2024. The attacker used stolen IT credentials to maintain persistent unauthorised access to the university's student management system and data warehouse between August 14 and August 27.

This cyber attack was sophisticated, targeted, and sustained, according to the university's preliminary investigations. Confidential student data such as names, addresses, university-issued email addresses, student identification numbers, and tuition fee information were reportedly accessed during the breach. In addition to this, detailed student admission, enrolment, and demographic data were also compromised.

The university continues to investigate the extent of the data breach and has warned of possible additional data exposures. The breach affects both former and current students and staff of the university, the college, the international college, and Early Learning Ltd.

Despite the intrusion, the university confirms there is no evidence that student records have been altered. Furthermore, there have been no threats relating to the stolen data, nor has it surfaced on dark web forums. The university is in the process of strengthening its cybersecurity measures, which may cause some disruption to the IT network. As the investigation continues, no further specific information about their remediation efforts is available at this time.

- CyberBeat