Students and professors react to the cyberattack

SYDNEY ELLISON Editor-in-Chief

Masters student Savannah Krichau didn’t learn about the cyberattack until the day after the initial problems started. Living in Michigan currently, Krichau was going to Blackboard to submit an as-signment when she realized the site was down. She said her initial reaction was that Blackboard itselfwas down, but as she tried to access other Truman Network systems and couldn’t, she realized the problem was much more extensive.

Krichau contacted classmates who were closer to campus to understand the situation. She said it was a reminder that being off-campus has its downsides. Krichau said she wished the TruAlert had come sooner than Saturday since that was her only source of information from the University.

“It was definitely a little bit of stress, especially with finals being so close,” Krichau said. “I just thought the timing couldn’t have been more unfortunate.”

Junior Amanda Maasen initially thought the cyberattack was a joke but soon realized it was real as the Truman Network continued to be unavailable.

Having a mix of online and in-person courses, Maasen has some classes that have stayed on track and classes that are behind schedule.

“I’m in three online courses, so those have been very delayed because I have no way of contacting my professors, they have no way of reaching out to me and I have no way to access the classes’ resources,” Maasen said.

Maasen said it impressed her how the University could work around communication issues by creating a website and using TruAlerts. She said the University can best support students by encouraging an understanding academic environment.

Maasen said she never thought the University could be hacked and was a little scared, but is glad everything seems to be resolved now.

“They [the University] just have to be consider- ate, and every student’s case is going to be different,” Maasen said.

In an email, Alan Garvey, dean of the computer science department, said the computer science department has been affected similarly to how the cyberattack has impacted other departments. The biggest issue was the inability to communicate with students.

Garvey said he thinks ITS’ response has been incredible.

Garvey said these kinds of attacks have been happening nationwide more and more frequently. ITS did a great job resolving the issue quickly, he said.

Senior Maddie Stogsdill was waiting on important financial aid information when the cyberattack happened.

“I felt completely left in the dark, not being able to get in contact with the office or view my financial aid package,” Stogsdill said. “I thought about going in person but knew other students would be doing the same and didn’t want to overwhelm the staff in the office. I had no idea when stuff would be back up and was just lost trying to figure everything out.”

Stogsdill said she wished the University could’ve clarified the situation sooner than they did.

For more information about the cyberattack see story on page 1.