The NWT’s Aurora College has suspended classes for at least a week after a cyber attack over the holidays.
In-person and online classes are suspended for the week of January 5-9, the college announced late on Sunday afternoon.
The college said its servers, e-learning platforms, email, self-service portal and student application portal are all currently down.
“During the Christmas break, Aurora College’s network was the target of a cyber-attack,” the college stated in a news release.
“Staff have been working towards remediation and recovery of the system and to purge any malicious code. That work is expected to continue most of the week.
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“So far, no evidence of a data breach or ransomware has been detected.”
Class cancellations were announced a day before students were set to return after the holiday break, with the college instructing them to monitor its website – which is not affected – and social media channels.
Writing on Facebook, the college said it apologized for the short notice and inconvenience.
In the comment section of the post, people began asking what this means for paying tuition, moving into dorms, and having their enrolment confirmed for student financial assistance forms.
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Responding to some queries, the college wrote it is working to set up alternate systems while hoping existing systems will be restored within a few days.
Regarding student financial assistance, the college said it will contact the territorial government on Monday morning to discuss “how to address the situation with minimal impact to students.”
Though classes are suspended, faculty and staff will be on site and able to help students by phone or in-person all week, the college said.
