San Antonio’s OLLU hit by cyberattack
A cyberattack on Our Lady of the Lake University’s computer network compromised personal data on its faculty, students and even individuals who applied to the university but never attended.
The private Catholic university on San Antonio’s West Side this week confirmed that it recently found evidence that “unauthorized access” to its network occurred about Aug. 30 and that “a limited amount of personal information was removed.” It declined to detail the types of information taken.
The university hasn’t notified those who were affected but plans to do so next Friday, spokeswoman Anne Gomez said.
But in interviews, people who learned through other means that their data had been compromised said it included Social Security and driver’s license numbers, dates of birth and home addresses.
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It’s unclear whether Our Lady of the Lake was hit by a ransomware attack, in which hackers deploy malicious software to lock people and groups out of their networks and demand payments to regain access. Hackers also often threaten to publicize private information contained in the attacked systems.
The university consulted with “outside cybersecurity professionals” to investigate the incident, Gomez said, declining to identify the investigator or the nature of the attack.
Some of the victims who were interviewed said they learned through alerts from credit card companies and credit rating agencies that their personal information had been compromised and were able to connect it to an attack on Our Lady of the Lake’s network.
The people, two of whom said they applied to the university in 2016 but never attended, spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns their information has been posted online or will be.
Fall semester enrollment at the university was about 2,300 students, and it employs about 450 people.
San Antonio has seen a surge of cyberattacks in recent years, with many described as ransomware attacks. They have hit other educational institutions as…
