FEU calls on students to reset passwords; hacking of portal probed
Published Jun 19, 2020 00:00 am
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Updated Jun 19, 2020 00:00 am
By Alexandria San Juan
Amid probe on the reports of possible hacking of its student portal, the Far Eastern University (FEU) on Thursday urged its students to reset passwords of their accounts.
(FEU)
“We advise all FEU students to reset the passwords of their Microsoft Office 365 accounts. Furthermore, we highly recommend that all students, faculty, and staff do not use the same passwords in their different online accounts,” the university said in a statement.
FEU said it already informed the National Privacy Commission and has already engaged the services of an external cybersecurity provider to augment its assessment and security measures.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. We assure you that this incident is being taken seriously,” it assured.
While investigation on the matter is still underway, the university said that its student portal will be temporarily unavailable while they “assess the situation and implement corrective measures before making it accessible.”
On Wednesday morning, the FEU announced on its Facebook page that its student portal has been “compromised,” hours after the institution's Kadiwa student coalition alerted students in a separate post about a potential breach and exposure of some 1,000 accounts.
Kadiwa said a hacker group "Pinoy Grayhats" was allegedly responsible for the leakage of student data. The group also claimed to have warned FEU that its website had been at risk, but did not take action.
Based on Pinoy Grayhats' Facebook page, FEU was among the several universities they hacked this month. The other schools are the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Cebu Normal University, Tarlac Agricultural State University, and the University of Mindanao.
The group called on school administrators to strengthen their cybersecurity to avoid data breach, especially during the transition of higher education institutions into a flexible mode of learning.
(FEU)
“We advise all FEU students to reset the passwords of their Microsoft Office 365 accounts. Furthermore, we highly recommend that all students, faculty, and staff do not use the same passwords in their different online accounts,” the university said in a statement.
FEU said it already informed the National Privacy Commission and has already engaged the services of an external cybersecurity provider to augment its assessment and security measures.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. We assure you that this incident is being taken seriously,” it assured.
While investigation on the matter is still underway, the university said that its student portal will be temporarily unavailable while they “assess the situation and implement corrective measures before making it accessible.”
On Wednesday morning, the FEU announced on its Facebook page that its student portal has been “compromised,” hours after the institution's Kadiwa student coalition alerted students in a separate post about a potential breach and exposure of some 1,000 accounts.
Kadiwa said a hacker group "Pinoy Grayhats" was allegedly responsible for the leakage of student data. The group also claimed to have warned FEU that its website had been at risk, but did not take action.
Based on Pinoy Grayhats' Facebook page, FEU was among the several universities they hacked this month. The other schools are the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Cebu Normal University, Tarlac Agricultural State University, and the University of Mindanao.
The group called on school administrators to strengthen their cybersecurity to avoid data breach, especially during the transition of higher education institutions into a flexible mode of learning.