Chattanooga State Community College was the target of a ransomware attack discovered on May 6. Officials said, "The College takes the privacy and security of its constituents very seriously and immediately took steps to address and mitigate the situation.
"Unfortunately, limited unauthorized access impacted a small percentage of constituents. The College now has evidence that the cybercriminal compromised 1,244 individuals’ personal information from its network during this incident. The majority of the 1,244 impacted constituents took the GED in the College testing center in 2012 and 2013.
"The College is sending notification letters to these individuals to make them aware of the situation and the steps they can take to protect themselves.
"Along with timely notifications sent to those impacted, the College is offering a year of complimentary credit monitoring to the individuals whose personal information was compromised. The credit monitoring service will be provided by a trusted and reputable agency, paid for by the College.
"Upon discovering the cyber incident, Chattanooga State promptly launched a comprehensive investigation to assess the nature and impact of the incident, engaging industry-leading cybersecurity experts to assist in this process. Following the advice of law enforcement and external experts, the College has chosen not to engage with cybercriminals."
“While the investigation is active and ongoing, we want to proactively communicate with individuals who have been affected,” stated Dr. Rebecca Ashford, president of the College.
In addition to credit monitoring, the College has implemented additional security measures in an effort to prevent further cyber incidents and continuously improve IT systems.
For more information and updates, please visit chattanoogastate.edu and the updated FAQ.