Swinburne Sarawak cyber security system attacked by ransomware, data of some students compromised

KUCHING (Sept 4): Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (Swinburne Sarawak) has confirmed that its cyber security system was attacked by ransomware last month.

In a statement today, the University said the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) of the Malaysia National Cyber Security Agency has been notified, adding that a team from the campus took immediate action to contain the attack.

Swinburne Sarawak was responding to a claim by the RansomHub ransomware gang following a ransomware attack last month.

“Swinburne Sarawak’s support team has been working quickly to resolve the matter and minimise the impact of the incident since then.

“The university’s core business system has been fully recovered with no further impact to our operations.

“We are working with specialists to ascertain further details of the incident and complete forensic investigations,” it said.

The university also disclosed that some sensitive data, including passport scans, letters of completion, and student applications, were stolen during the attack, but the extent of the impact on students remains unclear at this time.

It said support services are being made available to affected students and staff, adding it is committed to strengthening its cyber security measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

“Swinburne Sarawak’s IT systems are independent of Swinburne’s systems in Australia, and Swinburne’s Australian campuses are not impacted by this incident,” it said.

According to a report in Australia’s IT news site www.cyberdaily.au, a spokesperson from Swinburne Australia confirmed the ransomware attack this Sept 2 after RansomHub listed the campus as a victim on its dark web leak site on Aug 30.

“Swinburne Sarawak is currently responding to a cyber security incident.

“Immediate action was taken to contain the incident, and relevant government authorities in Malaysia were notified within 24 hours,” the spokesperson said.