果冻传媒

Although we are now entering calmer waters, we are aware that there are still many questions among students and teachers. We will pay attention to this and keep an eye on it as much as possible and address this where and when we can.

Patrick Groothuis, vice-president of 果冻传媒 and chairman of the 果冻传媒 Central Crisis Team: "Some nine days after the start of the cyberattack, we are relieved that we can collectively conclude that we can safely return to regular operations. Many people have done their very best to make this possible, and I would like to thank them again for their efforts, flexibility and professionalism. I would also like to convey great appreciation to our students and how they have dealt with the limitations and the uncertainty. They have shown great resilience and were very involved in the process. That reflects the DNA of our university, which we are proud of. And of course we are very grateful to our researchers, teachers and support staff who will have to take care of all the adjustments and exceptions in education in the coming period. We are aware that this will lead to extra workload. We will therefore continue to pay close attention to ensuring that there is sufficient support."

With the disbandment of the Central Crisis Team, the daily updates and the provision of information via this website will also come to an end. All information about the cyberattack and all facilities and measures will become available . The webpage on the 果冻传媒 internet that you are now looking at will remain accessible for some time.

果冻传媒 is currently conducting a forensic investigation into the attack, together with partner Fox-IT. In addition, 果冻传媒 will have an external evaluation done of the way in which 果冻传媒 responded to the cyberattack. 果冻传媒 will publish the results together, expected in April at the earliest.

Restart of teaching goes according to plan

January 20, 2025, at 16:00 

The restart of education at Eindhoven University of Technology is going according to plan. Students are not experiencing any significant disruption as the systems are working properly.

We know that there are still many questions, which will be answered via our WhatsApp number, the counters and the regular desks. The IT service desk will be available longer today and tomorrow (from 08:00 to 20:00).

Patrick Groothuis, vice president of 果冻传媒: 鈥淲e feel relief that we have been able to safely restart education without major problems. Thanks again to all students and staff for their flexibility. In addition, I would like to express extra appreciation to our teachers. They have to find solutions in the coming period on top of the workload that is already high. We want to help our teachers and support staff as much as possible and give them the flexibility and space they need to do their jobs well.鈥�

Starting tomorrow morning at 6:00, the parking system will be back in operation. The barriers will then close again, and from that moment on everyone can drive onto and off campus as usual.

We will have another update on the situation tomorrow at 16:00 via this website.

果冻传媒 network works as desired; green light for restart of teaching on Monday

January 19, 2025, at 4:00 PM

The 果冻传媒 network-bound systems have successfully completed the functional tests conducted this weekend. As a result, education can restart on Monday.

The recovery work on our network was completed this weekend and now the network is working as desired. Almost all applications are available and tested. A few applications are still experiencing temporary limitations, partly because the VPN connection is not yet available. Which applications this concerns, can be read via the link in the 'Currently operational applications & IT Support' block below.

All accessible systems can be used safely, but it is possible that disruptions may still occur during this start-up phase. The IT service desk will therefore also be available for longer hours on Monday and Tuesday (from 08:00 to 20:00). We again ask for everyone's patience and understanding.

Patrick Groothuis, vice president of 果冻传媒: 鈥淚 am happy to report that the restart of education can take place on Monday. I sincerely hope that all students and staff can resume their studies and work in peace. This weekend our ICT experts and other staff once again worked extremely hard, and I would like to express my great thanks for that."

In addition, a form is now available online for 果冻传媒 students who have run into problems with their exams due to the schedule changes and would like to reschedule them to a time to be determined in quartile 3 or 4. The form can be found via the following . We ask students to keep studyability in mind when considering exam rescheduling, as it will increase the study load in another quartile.

Solution for students who cannot attend exams

January 17, 2025, at 20:15

All 果冻传媒 students who get stuck with their exams due to the schedule changes will be given the option (with a valid reason) to move their exams from quartile 2 to a time to be determined in quartile 3 or 4.

This means that even students with planned trips or other obligations can participate in the exams at a later moment, provided that the students indicate in time that they cannot participate in the exams in Q2.

The decision was taken by 果冻传媒 Central Crisis Team after advise from the program directors, managers ESA, the education committee of the University Council, the chairs of the examination committees and the education board.

Patrick Groothuis, vice president of 果冻传媒: 鈥淭his way, students with other obligations will be eligible for another examination opportunity, provided they notify us in time. So this is not an extra opportunity, but a relocation. We find it important to make this concession, for the clarity in our organization and because of our duty of care. With this, students do not have to cancel and therefore do not have to incur costs because they can still take their exams at another time.鈥�

Groothuis: 鈥淲e realize that this puts an extra demand on our teachers. Partly the workload is shifted, because the student does not get an extra chance but another date for the same exam. Because of this there is no extra review time, but it does mean that, for example, extra exams have to be made. We are going to see how we can compensate this for teachers, we will come back to this later.鈥�

In addition, it has been decided earlier that week 8 in quartile 3 will be dropped in its entirety. This may mean a different distribution of course material. Feedback moments are still guaranteed. We consider studyability important, hence the rule that no new exam material may be offered in the four working days before the exam, nor after week 7. The reasoning behind this is to guarantee as much class material as possible and still have sufficient preparation time for the exam. Teachers will be provided with more information on this through their program director and ESA manager.

More information can be found in the 'educational changes' block below and the FAQ.

We will inform you Sunday at 16:00 via the website about the final decision regarding teaching on Monday.

果冻传媒 on track to restart teaching on Monday

January 17, 2025, at 16:00

We are still on track to restart education next Monday. The DDoS attacks today (Friday) on the Surf network, which we as 果冻传媒 are connected to, may cause problems with the Internet, but do not affect the schedule for now.

As of Saturday morning, all 果冻传媒 network-bound systems are basically back online, although not all systems are available from home as the VPN connection is not yet usable. Over the weekend, we are conducting functional tests and disruptions remain possible during this start-up phase. We ask everyone's patience and understanding. All accessible systems can be used safely.

The schedule for the upcoming week of education (week 8) will be published in TE Timetable at 17:00 today, as well as the schedule for the exam period of quartile 2. As previously announced, the exams are moving up one week. The teaching schedules for quartile 3 will be available on January 31. The adjusted academic calendar was already available yesterday via the 果冻传媒 Guide.

We are currently looking at how we can minimize the impact on students, what solutions we can offer for their concerns, and how we can prevent study delays. An update will follow later today so that we can provide more clarity to students and teachers before the weekend.

Patrick Groothuis, vice president of 果冻传媒: 鈥淲e are not only asking a lot from our students at the moment, but also from the flexibility of our researchers, lecturers and the entire academic staff. They have to make the necessary adjustments, and they see the workload increasing. We are also taking this into account as much as possible in our search for solutions. We have enormous appreciation for the way they are handling the situation and doing everything they can to make sure everything runs smoothly.鈥�

Another update will follow via this website today at 19:00.

Recovery of network and systems is proceeding as planned

January 16, 2025, at 16:00

Getting the network and network-bound systems back online is going as planned. 果冻传媒 will therefore restart on Monday, as previously announced. The schedules for the next three weeks will be online tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon (January 17) at 17:00 the schedule for the upcoming week of education (week 8) will be published in TE Timetable, as well as the schedule for the exam period in quartile 2. These schedules will be identical to the previously planned schedules, but moved up by one week. The teaching schedules for quartile 3 will be available on January 31.

The adjusted academic calendar is already available via . As mentioned earlier, all quartile 2 exams will be postponed by exactly one week, the locations will remain the same. Quartile 3 will be shortened by one week, by dropping week 8. After that we will return to the original schedule: quartile 4 and the exams of quartile 3 will take place as previously planned, without adjustments.

For the time being, all changes in terms of education are being planned centrally and this web page will remain the central communication channel. All common questions are answered via the FAQ, see bottom of this page. If you have other questions, you can ask them via the WhatApp number on this page (). For each department, at least one study advisor is present on campus to answer students' questions. Furthermore, students can raise their issues through the education commissioners of their study association. The education commissioners are in contact with the UR education committee about this; their contact data can be found on the study associations' websites.

Patrick Groothuis, vice president of 果冻传媒: "We are aware that many students are concerned about the consequences of the adjustments. Our focus is now mainly on restarting and replanning education, but at the same time we are taking stock of the issues for students and how we can help them. To this end, we are in contact with the University Council education committee, the Federation of Study Associations (FSE) and the umbrella organizations of the student associations. The interests of students are our top priority and we will do our utmost to find solutions for as many issues as possible. For instance, in quartile 3, we are going to take studyability into account, because the quartile is one week shorter. And we are also going to look closely at other student concerns. We will come back to this as soon as we can.鈥�

In principle, all of 果冻传媒's network-related systems will come back online Saturday morning at the latest. During the weekend we will do functional tests. Due to the start-up, malfunctions may still occur in the days ahead, we hope for understanding.

We are maintaining an up-to-date overview of all systems that are safe and available again. This overview can be reached via a link at the bottom of this page. Sometimes systems are available before we report them in the overview. In all these cases, the systems are safe to use.

Furthermore, since yesterday there have been nationwide DDoS attacks on the Surf network, to which we as 果冻传媒 are connected. As a result, there may sometimes be problems with internet connections. As a result of these DDoS attacks, 果冻传媒's internal emergency number (2222) is not guaranteed to be accessible. 

Tomorrow at 16:00, we will have another update on the situation via this website.

Most systems back online before Monday

January 15, 2025, at 4:00 PM

果冻传媒 expects to have most of its network and network-bound systems secure and available again before the weekend. During the weekend there will be functional tests. The plan to restart education on Monday 20 January and thus to postpone it by one week is therefore expected to go ahead. Furthermore, the preliminary results of the first phase of the investigation into the cyberattack show that the digital security systems worked well, as a result of which the hackers were 'spotted mid-act'.

We keep an up-to-date overview of systems that are safe and back in the air, see below on this page. Users may unfortunately still have to deal with malfunctions that may occur due to the start-up. We hope for your understanding. There is also the possibility that setbacks will occur, we will keep everyone informed.

For the rest of the week we will continue to advice that everyone consider for themselves whether it makes sense to come to campus to work or study here. From Monday, the situation will in all likelihood have recovered sufficiently to allow for all regular campus activities.

The first phase of the internal investigation into the cyber-attack, conducted by 果冻传媒 together with external experts, shows that the detection and response worked well. No signs have yet been found that the hackers have succeeded in taking systems hostage, encrypting documents, or stealing data.

Patrick Groothuis, vice-president of 果冻传媒: "The investigation points to the conclusion that the hackers were spotted mid-act last weekend, and that worse outcomes were prevented by the resolute intervention of our ICT experts." The investigation has also revealed how the hackers got in. 果冻传媒 has now taken even more security measures. Groothuis: "We are confident that this will allow everything to be restarted safely, step by step. We aren鈥檛 making any rash decisions in this. At the same time there are no 100% guarantees when it comes to digital security, so we will stay alert and take measures when necessary."

For questions from the community, a helpdesk of approximately ten people is operational and can be reached via the WhatsApp number below. So far, the helpdesk-team has managed to answer all questions within a few hours.

Groothuis: "We realize that this crisis and its consequences are widely felt in our community and are causing extra work for many of our people. We would therefore like to express our great appreciation for the commitment and resilience with which everyone is tackling this, especially the employees of the LIS and ESA service departments who have been at the forefront of tackling this situation."

Incidentally, Surf, the ICT cooperative of educational and research institutions in the Netherlands, dealt with  today, a DDoS attack. People on the 果冻传媒 campus were inconvenienced by this attack as it led to hiccups in the Wi-Fi connection.

Tomorrow we will have another update at 16:00.

EXAMS AND EDUCATION POSTPONED 1 WEEK, SOLUTION CYBERATTACK IN SIGHT

January 14, 2025, at 4:00 PM

The 果冻传媒 has decided to postpone exams, which were due to start in the week of January 20, by one week. We expect, allowing for some flexibility, that by next Monday (January 20) the network-bound systems will be sufficiently available to students again. The systems were inaccessible due to a cyberattack. The decision gives students and teachers clarity and enough time to prepare for exams and complete assignments on time. Next week will basically be like the current week, with deadlines and (catch-up) teaching.

The 果冻传媒 is busy implementing the recovery plan to get the network and the systems safe and online again. In the coming days, parts of the network are expected to be brought back online step by step, making network-bound systems available again. The systems for education (Canvas, Teams, YuJa, Osiris and examination systems), will be given priority.

Although the 果冻传媒 is sufficiently confident in the progress of dealing with the cyberattack and getting the network back online, a restart is never without risks and there may still be setbacks. We have installed extra 24/7 monitoring. Therefore, keep an eye on this website in the coming days.

With the postponement of the exam weeks, the education calendar is pushed back one week. Next week will be 鈥榳eek 8鈥�, the so-called catch-up week. After that, there will be two exam weeks, followed by quartile three. In quartile three, the catch-up week is removed from that quartile, correcting the 1-week run-up. Also, the deadlines that stood for handing in work in the current week will be postponed 1 week.

The decision was taken by the 果冻传媒 Central Crisis Team in coordination with examination committees, directors education, university council, deans and directors. The decision was primarily driven by students' interests. As a result of the cyberattack, many exams proved insufficiently prepared or (partly) impossible to be taken in the scheduled period. As a result, students would have had to be make up exams later, which would cause study progress problems for many. Also a lot of students would not have had enough time to study properly, partly because study materials were not always available, due to the cyberattack.

Patrick Groothuis, vice-president of 果冻传媒 and chairman of the Central Crisis Team: 鈥淲e weighed everything up extensively, it was not an easy decision. For us, student interests come first; they should be affected as little as possible. For studyability and clarity, this is the best scenario. At the same time, we realize that the decision also has an impact on our teachers and other staff, who will have to do a lot of extra work. We will therefore ensure optimal extra support. In addition, the decision to postpone will have individual consequences, for instance in connection with planned holidays. We will do our best to give people a helping hand in this regard. We are extremely grateful to everyone for their understanding and flexibility.鈥�

Today, a Wi-Fi network is again available on the 果冻传媒-campus. It is expected to take weeks before all functionality is fully restored.

As is customary, 果冻传媒 is having an external investigation conducted into the cyberattack, to get a picture of whether everything around the attack was handled according to rules and protocols. Therefore 果冻传媒 has been carefully documenting the process from the start of the attack.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will have another update at 16:00.

UPDATE ON CYBERATTACK: NO EDUCATION ON TUESDAY

January 13, 2025, at 4:00 PM

Our cybersecurity experts are working very hard to make 果冻传媒's network secure and available again as soon as possible. This work will not be completed today and therefore no education will be possible tomorrow.

Patrick Groothuis, Vice President of 果冻传媒: 鈥淲e are working methodically with all our might to get the 果冻传媒's network back secure and eventually bring it back online, step by step, with the utmost care. The education systems have the highest priority in this regard. We understand that this has a major impact on everyone in our community. We are touched by the resilience of students and staff and by all the messages of support and help offered.鈥�

Tomorrow at 16:00 we will provide another update here on the website looking ahead to Wednesday.

In the meantime we have set up a helpdesk, which can be reached via Whatsapp, at the number below. The question desk is intended for both employees and students. Furthermore, the student desk in MetaForum floor 1 is open for questions.

We are currently working out different scenarios for education, also in view of the exam period starting next week. We are mapping out all teaching- and student-related issues, e.g. handing in assignments and giving graduation presentations. We understand the tensions and uncertainties among both our staff and our students and will make our considerations with the utmost care.

Non-network-related research at 果冻传媒 can continue; all labs and facilities are functional and safe. PhD defenses can also take place.

So far, we have no indication that data have been stolen, but the investigation is still ongoing. There is no contact with the hackers and it is still unknown who they are.

It is very quiet at 果冻传媒 today, most students have chosen not to come to campus and approximately half of the regular amount of employees are on campus.

January 12, 2025, at 7:00 PM 

Our ICT staff caught sight of the attack around 21:00 last night. We cannot yet say much about the exact nature given the investigation, but it had all the hallmarks of a cyberattack given the suspicious activity on our servers. During the night we therefore shut down the network. There is no sign yet that data has been stolen, we are still investigating that.

We further urge everyone to be extra alert to phishing emails that may take advantage of the 果冻传媒 situation, and not to click on links from unknown senders or that ask to log into an environment.

NETWORK 果冻传媒 IS SHUT DOWN, NO EDUCATION ON MONDAY (article of 12 January 2025)

January 12, 2025, at 12:00 PM

果冻传媒 has shut down its network today (Sunday 12 January) due to a cyberattack. As a result, 果冻传媒's network-bound systems are or will become inaccessible for users for the time being and there will be no lectures and other educational activities, at least up to and including Monday. We will keep everyone informed of the developments via this web page and try to answer questions that may arise.

We advise everyone to consider for themselves whether it has added value to come to campus, whether or not in coordination with your supervisor or manager. The buildings and the campus will remain accessible. Students and employees can come to campus, but they cannot use network-bound facilities, such as e-mail, Wi-Fi, Canvas and Teams.

Patrick Groothuis, vice-president: "We realize that switching off the network has serious consequences, for our students, employees, but also for other parties on campus. This necessary intervention was done to prevent worse outcomes. We therefore hope for understanding, and we are doing our utmost to resolve this and have all systems accessible as soon as possible."

Our ICT experts still have access to all systems. They are currently investigating the nature and extent of the cyberattack and are trying to get the network operational again as soon as possible. We work as carefully as possible. As a result, we expect to have the systems accessible again at the earliest by Tuesday. We will keep you updated on developments here. Monday at 16:00 we will let you know here what the situation will be on Tuesday.

At 果冻传媒, next week is the last teaching week of quartile two, during which there will be limited teaching, such as catch-up activities and preparation for exams in the following weeks.