University of Winnipeg faculty, staff, students required to reset passwords following cyber attack

The University of Winnipeg is asking campus community members to do their part after a cyber attack disrupted student services last week.

In a town hall Monday afternoon, university president Todd Mondor, and other administrative members, provided an update on the status of the affected systems that were shutdown as a result of the incident.

“Everyone needs to do a password reset. Every single faculty, staff member and student,” said Kim Benoit, the university tech sector’s Chief Information Officer.

Students, staff and faculty are being asked to reset their passwords in the next 48 hours, then the school will be able to start restoring people's access.

“These are the critical steps that we must do before we can start bringing these critical systems online,” she added. “I can't stress that enough.”

Classes were temporarily cancelled after a cyber incident on March 24, 2024 impacted a variety of the university’s systems.

Last week, it was announced that the semester would be pushed back, which means exams will run from April 18 to May 2.

The spring term is still expected to start on time on May 6. However, students have no way of registering for courses as the system is still down.

“Just please be patient. I recognize that it has an impact on everyone. But we are confident that the spring registration can begin shortly,” said Pavlina Radia, provost and vice-president, academic.

The university said it’s not aware of any loss of personal information but students are urged to take precautions.