Southeastern Louisiana University President William S. Wainwright provided an update to Southeastern faculty, staff and students on Thursday.
He said the University experienced a network incident this past spring and that this type of event is becoming more and more common.
He said from the onset, their primary focus was protecting student, faculty and staff data. He called the disruption challenging, but said the approach in their response proved critical in ensuring the return to normalcy was done in as safe of a manner as possible.
Wainwright said when the issue was detected, the IT team at Southeastern immediately contacted and began working with the Division of Administration, Louisiana National Guard, Louisiana State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Secret Service, as well as the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to respond.
Following the incident, an in-depth investigation was initiated to better understand the source and scope of the incident.
The new college president said investigations as complex as this take time, and it was important that the work was conducted with the highest level of diligence to ensure the most thorough and complete results possible. He said they have recently been notified of the completion of the work and associated results. While there is information that remains confidential due to an ongoing criminal investigation, it has been concluded that the incident did not involve any unauthorized access to or theft of personal identifiable information. It was further concluded that there was no unauthorized access to or theft of educational records.
He thanked each member of the IT team, as well as students, faculty and staff for their patience, cooperation, and support as the university persevered through this challenge.
