Indiana's DePauw University says cyber attack compromised students' personal information

DePauw University in Indiana said it suffered a significant cyber security incident that compromised the sensitive personal information of students.

Founded in 1837, Greencastle, Indiana-based DePauw University is a private liberal arts college. It is a member of both the Great Lakes Colleges Association and the North Coast Athletic Conference and has 1754 students from 39 states and 39 countries in its rolls.

In a security incident notice published on its website, DePauw University said it identified a security incident on 31st October that impacted its internal network. The university immediately launched an internal investigation, with assistance from third party cyber security experts, to understand the nature and scope of the incident. It also put in place network security measures to avoid any further intrusion.

“We have been working with federal law enforcement and external experts to conduct a comprehensive forensic investigation to analyse the extent of any potential data compromise,” the university said. “Although the investigation is ongoing, the preliminary investigation has revealed that a limited amount of data on specific individuals was accessed.”

DePauw University said via another notification that since 27th November, current and prospective DePauw students whose personal data has been compromised in the data security incident have been notified. Affected students have been provided with a year of complimentary subscription to an Identity Force protection plan, along with a dedicated helpline number where they can call and get their queries answered.

A group of threat actors using the moniker "Black Suit ransomware gang" claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the University and listed it as a victim on its data leak site. The group claims to be in possession of 214 GB of data stolen from DePauw University.

 

DePauw University is yet to share details about how the threat actors infiltrated its internal network or whether a ransom was demanded. It has, however, confirmed that more details will be shared as and when available.

Earlier this year, Indiana University Health suffered a major data breach after one of its service providers fell victim to the exploitation of the MOVEit Transfer web application by the notorious Clop ransomware gang.

The University said that one of its service providers, TMG Health, Inc. (TMG), who helped with claims processing, used the MOVEit Transfer web application to send and receive files securely. The compromised data included IU Health Plans member names, member identification numbers, effective dates of plans, and in limited circumstances, banking account and routing numbers.