Okanagan College offers creditor monitoring to students and staff after cyber attack

Photo: Brayden Ursel

The cyber attack detected on January 9, 2023, knocked a number of systems offline at Okanagan College

Okanagan College is dealing with continued fallout from a cyber attack earlier this month.

On Monday, January 9, the college responded to an unauthorized entry to certain technology systems. The attack knocked a number of systems offline just as students were returning to classes after the holiday break.

It took several days, but most systems are now restored, and/or temporary solutions are in place.

Today we got an update on the investigation into the breach.

“In the course of the investigation, it has been determined that certain information belonging to current students and employees may have been subject to risk as result of the incident,” said the college in a news release.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia has been notified and OC is in the process of informing students and staff directly.

Students will be receiving instructions or can find more information on the OC website about how to access credit monitoring services, free of charge. Staff will receive instructions directly from the college through email.

OC says that should the investigation determine that information pertaining to other individuals may have been compromised, it will notify those individuals accordingly.

“While no organization can be entirely immune to these types of attacks, the College takes privacy seriously and will continue to seek opportunities to further strengthen its security infrastructure.”

So far, Okanagan College has not said who they suspect is behind the cyber attack.