The University of Manchester has issued a warning to its staff and students regarding a possible cyberattack in which data from the university’s network was likely stolen.
With over 45,000 students and 10,000 employees, the University is a public research institute that is also one of the largest and most successful education and research hubs in the UK.
The University of Manchester says in a statement that was posted on its website that they discovered the breach on Tuesday, June 6 and immediately began an investigation.
The statement on the university’s website reads, “Regrettably, I have to share with you the news that the University is the victim of a cyber incident.”
“It has been confirmed that an unauthorised party has accessed some of our systems, and it is likely that data have been copied,”
In addition, the announcement explains that both internal specialists and outside assistance are continuously attempting to resolve the issue, identify precisely which systems have been accessed, and work toward a prompt system restoration.
According to the university, they reported the security and data breach to all relevant authorities, including the Information Commissioner’s Office, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and the National Crime Agency.
“We are very sorry for this, and we are aware that this will be a source of concern for members of our community. The University of Manchester apologized and stated, “Our priority is to resolve this issue and provide information to those affected as soon as we are able to.”
For the “cyber incident,” the university has created a separate FAQ page that primarily provides security guidance for staff and students.
Members of the University are not currently required to change their passwords, but they should exercise extreme caution against phishing attempts.
The University was limited to stating that the investigation is still ongoing and that it will inform the public as soon as additional information becomes available regarding the questions of who is responsible for the attack and whether any sensitive research or personal data has been stolen.
In addition, the University of Manchester asserts that its security incident has nothing to do with the most recent data breach at Zellis or the MOVEit Transfer data theft attacks.
