Medusa group claims ransomware attack on the Open University of Cyprus, demands a ransom

The Open University of Cyprus (OUC) suffered a cyber attack that forced it to take several Internet-facing portals offline.

The Open University of Cyprus said that on March 27, it identified the cyber attack and the University decided to take several central services and critical systems offline.

“As a precaution, access is not provided to the University’s eLearning Platform, Employment Portal, the Portal for applications of prospective students, and other critical systems that mainly concern the University community,” the university’s notice read.

OUC said it has launched an investigation to understand the nature and scope of the cyber attack and that systems will be offline till the issue is resolved.

“It is noted that the competent University Services are working closely with various organisations to pre-empt future attacks, to resolve the incident, and restore the University’s systems,” OUC added.

The OUC also added that it would provide timely updates to its members and students and deadlines for the submission of assignments will be extended.

The notorious Medusa ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the ransomware attack on OUC, listed the university on its data leak site, and has given it a deadline of 14 days to meet its ransom demand. The group has demanded $100,000 for deleting all stolen data and the same amount for downloading the data. The threat actors quoted $10,000 for delaying the publication by a day.

To support its claims, the Medusa group also posted some sample files that contain personally identifiable information about students, financial details of research contractors, and more.

In March, Minneapolis Public Schools suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted several systems including its internet, phones, cameras, badge access, printers, building alarms, and more. The Medusa ransomware group, which claimed responsibility for the ransomware attack, gave the school District until March 17 to pay a ransom of $1 million after which it threatened to publish all stolen data.