Five Louisiana state colleges and universities including the University of New Orleans, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Southern University at Shreveport, River Parishes Community College, and Nunez Community College moved to shut down their networks on Friday following the Louisiana State Police's discovery of indicators of compromise in their systems, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
"The restorative activities include removing capabilities from potential threat actors and operationalizing state-of-the-art security tools, including hardware and software. Forensic and investigative efforts are continuing with Louisiana State Police Cyber Crime Unit," said Louisiana State Police Lt. Melissa Matey.
While all of the impacted colleges and universities have noted ongoing network restoration efforts, none have confirmed whether the compromise was brought upon by a ransomware attack.
Such disruptions come only three weeks after a cyberattack against Southeastern Louisiana University. At least 14 colleges and universities across the U.S. have been impacted by cybersecurity incidents, including ransomware attacks, so far this year, 11 of which involved data exfiltration, said Emsisoft ransomware expert Brett Callow.
