We were made aware of a phishing email campaign targeting a small number of student accounts yesterday afternoon.
The University, alongside our cybersecurity partner, took immediate action and 196 compromised accounts were blocked, and the spread of malicious emails stopped.
As a result of these account blocks, some staff and students may temporarily be unable to access their University accounts, including email and Teams. Those affected are being supported by our IT and student support teams, and we are working as quickly as possible to restore secure access and will continue to provide updates via alternative communication channels where necessary.
We take the security of our community very seriously and are working to investigate what happened to prevent future occurrences. We appreciate the patience and cooperation of all staff and students during this time.
What’s next?
A number of our staff and students will be unable to access their accounts, therefore we can’t contact these colleagues and students via email or Teams.
For staff
- If there is a team member who is meant to be working today and doesn’t log on as usual, it may be that their account has been blocked.
- If these colleagues reach out, we need line managers or colleagues to direct them to the IT Service Desk in Applied Science 3 for support in regaining access to their account.
- It would be helpful if they could bring identification to assist the IT team in this process.
For students
- Students will need to contact the Hubble Centre:
- In person - 1st floor of Student Central 9-5pm Monday-Fridays (Wednesday 10-5pm).
- Hubble Telephone – call 01482 462 222
Further support
We appreciate things like this can impact people differently. If any colleagues need any extra support at this time, please visit our Health and Wellbeing SharePoint page or please share these resources and contacts with any colleagues who currently don’t have access to their account. If students reach out for wellbeing support and they cannot access their account, please direct them to our Student Assistance Programme on 0800 028 3766 - otherwise please direct them to Hubble.