Vanderbilt University kept access to most campus systems restricted Monday during a cybersecurity investigation, while a group calling itself BYOD claimed it took personal and university data that the school has not confirmed was stolen.
On Nov. 9, the university told students, faculty and staff to shut down university devices and disconnect from university Wi-Fi. Anyone who noticed suspicious activity was told to contact Vanderbilt’s IT Service Desk using a separate device or a telephone.
In a later Monday update, Vanderbilt said campus Wi-Fi was available, though access to most university systems and applications remained restricted. The university said its Information Technology team was investigating and working to contain the incident.
BYOD claimed university databases were locked and that it had obtained more than 1 million Social Security numbers, along with names, contact details, student and employee records, and research data. The claim comes from the group’s listing on ransomware.live. The number refers to Social Security numbers; it does not establish how many people or records were affected. Vanderbilt has not confirmed data theft, file encryption or BYOD’s responsibility.
The disruption led Vanderbilt’s Writing Studio to close Monday afternoon and evening and cancel appointments scheduled during those periods. Vanderbilt Health told its employees to stay off university IT resources, saying its own systems had not been affected at that point and patient care continued at its hospitals and clinics.
Vanderbilt said classes and university operations would follow their normal schedule Tuesday, Nov. 10, and that it planned another update that morning.
