Internet, email access further restored at SFA following cyber attack
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - Internet access has been further restored at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches after a recent cyber attack.
According to an update posted on social media, internet access through wired ports is now available on campus for faculty, staff and students. Access to mySFA is also available, though not all functions are working. Students can access the internet via a wired port in their residence halls and on-campus computer labs. Ethernet cables are available to be checked out from the Steen Library, if needed.
Email is also now working for students on campus; however, email access for faculty and staff has not yet been restored.
“As we work on this, we want to remind everyone to avoid clicking on links in any email you might receive about resetting your password, etc. SFA will not send emails making requests like this, so these are phishing attempts,” campus administrators said in the update.
Additionally, the university’s TouchNet payment software and Banner, the primary business operations systems, also have been restored.
“We want to be thorough about inspecting those things, and then, of course, it just takes time to restore things from the backup as well,” said chief communications officer Graham Garner. He said they are optimistic about getting back to normal.
As of Tuesday, Garner said there is no indication that sensitive or private information was exposed and to enhance security measures, faculty, staff, and students will encounter prompts to reset their passwords.
Staff at the school’s Help Desk is working side by side with those that need help resetting passwords and setting two-factor authentication for all school-related accounts.
Senior Naya Black is taking summer classes and working part-time on campus. Black said the first few days were hard getting in communication with professors and managers, but “they were very lenient and very supportive about the situation.”
Black went to the Help Desk and was able to download and sign into the school’s phone applications.
“I was able to just sign into D2L and look at what my professors have posted, so hopefully, it continues to stay that way,” Black said.
Garner said the school’s decision to restore systems a few at a time is to prevent them from potentially experiencing another cyber attack.
“All of this is really intended to make sure everyone and their information is safe. That the systems are stable and accessible and that we are more secure than ever,” said Garner.
Administrators also said that all faculty, staff and students need to change their mySFA password following the directions at gosfa.com/outage. For help doing this, contact SFA’s Help Desk at 936-468-4357 (HELP) for assistance from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday.
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