Stanford University investigates cyberattack after ransomware allegations

Stanford University is investigating a cybersecurity incident within its Department of Public Safety after a ransomware gang claimed to have attacked the school on Friday.

A university spokesperson directed Recorded Future News to a statement released Friday afternoon explaining that it was still understanding the details of the incident.

“We continue to investigate a cybersecurity incident at the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) to determine the extent of what may have been impacted,” the school said. said.

“Based on our investigation to date, there is no indication that the incident affected any other part of the university, nor that it had any impact on the police response to emergencies. The affected SUDPS system has been secured.

They added that their information security teams were investigating the incident alongside external specialists. Once the investigation is complete, they said, they will share more information.

Friday morning, the Akira ransomware gang claimed he attacked Stanford University and stole 430 gigabytes of data.

The gang is behind several attacks in the United States colleges And K-12 Schools this year after emerging in March.

Researchers from cybersecurity companies Avast and Arctic Wolf found several pieces of evidence linking the operation. Conti — a now-defunct ransomware group accused of launching several high-profile attacks on governments around the world.

Arctic Wolf said the group had compromised at least 63 victims since operations began. A decryptor for ransomware was released by Avast in July but the group has not stopped launching attacks.

Stanford University is the latest major American school to face ransomware attacks in recent weeks, after the University of Michigan. was forced to cut off internet access to stop an attack in August.

Stanford University previously faced a cybersecurity incident in 2021, when the Clop ransomware gang stolen and leaked personal information obtained through a vulnerability in the Accellion File Transfer Appliance (FTA) software.

The violation implied Social Security numbers and more from Stanford Medicine.

Jonathan Greig

Jonathan Greig is a breaking news reporter at Recorded Future News. Jonathan has worked as a journalist around the world since 2014. Before returning to New York, he worked for media outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia. He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.