South-East Technological University continues to grapple with the fallout of a cyberattack that was detected late last week, with WiFi and phones still out of action across its Waterford campuses.
Staff were informed this morning that the university does not as yet know when its network and phone services will be restored.
Staff at the SETU Waterford campuses have been told not to use office desktops until further notice and to use work laptops on external WiFi.
Classes in Waterford resumed yesterday after Monday classes were cancelled due to the cybersecurity incident.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Minister of State with Responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment Ossian Smyth said the attack at SETU had been a ransomware attack.
Mr Smyth said it had been detected at an early stage by both the university and the National Cybersecurity Centre and had been diffused "before it caused any damage".
News of the attack was communicated to staff on Friday. They were told in an email that the incident had been identified at the earliest possible stage and that there was no evidence to suggest that any data or information had been compromised.
The college’s Vice-President for Student Experience, David Denieffe, told staff in an email that SETU was continuing to monitor the situation closely and that investigations were ongoing.
"Our internal IT team is liaising with external cyber security experts to resolve the issue and minimise any potential impact," he wrote.
In an update to staff yesterday evening Mr Denieffe told staff that a webinar would be held in the coming days to provide a further update on the situation.
South-East Technological University has campuses across Waterford, Carlow, Wexford and Wicklow. The cyberattack has affected only its Waterford campuses.
