By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE University of The Bahamas (UB) has been the victim of a ransomware attack - and a union president has expressed concerns that the term may have to be extended as a result. 

Daniel Thompson, president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) said yesterday there had already been three days of downtime for students and educators because of the attack - and if it was prolonged any further, there may have to be consideration given to extending the term. 

A number of UB’s online systems were affected by the attack. 

Even on campus, only cash was accepted for payments. The union chief said that the attack prevented access to emails, Zoom and Moodle, although the virtual learning platforms were accessible. People were unable to print or scan, and only cash could be accepted for payments. 

Mr Thompson said yesterday it is a “real challenge” for most of his members, especially those taking purely online classes. However, face to face classes were less challenged.

He said: “I’ve continued my classes, all face-to-face have continued. So online classes, many of them happen due to the ability to what they did is contact the office, and they were able to be in contact with their professors and then they did the link up in that regard. So we did the best we could. In some cases, some classes may have  been missed for the online classes. Once it’s solved today (Wednesday), anticipate there may not be any major impact on scheduling. Faculty will just sort of make-up the classes and move forward.”

 UB said in a statement the incident was detected on Sunday. The statement read: “Upon discovery of the breach, our technology services team initiated our incident response plan, and we are working closely with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement to investigate the matter.”

The university added immediate steps were taken to secure the internet-based systems by disabling access to their network and an investigation is underway.

UB advised students, faculty and staff to change passwords on any device connected to the UB network and closely monitor activity on their account as a protective measure.

Mr Thompson said the university told staff that the situation would be resolved yesterday. 

He said: “We would have missed three days. I knew that if the time goes too long the university may have to make some hard decisions, such as extending the semester if necessary, but I guess administration has to assess the impact and whether faculty, they’re able to make up the classes. If they’re able to make up the classes, then they shouldn’t have no impact on the scheduling in terms of when class ends.

“I cannot speak to what the university is doing in that regard. I know that my members are concerned that the downtime needs to be made up. Normally, professors can make it up during the semester if you have sufficient time by, you know, extending the classes a little longer. Catching up 30 minutes every class, in about two weeks they would have caught up.

“But in regards to whether that can happen or not, and if that can’t happen, the university will be faced with a tough decision where they need to extend the semester by one more week.”

When The Tribune reached out yesterday evening to a UB representative on the issue being resolved, they said the matter was still under investigation and any changes will be communicated later.