UWI urges students to beware of suspicious links amid cybersecurity alert

The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is urging students, staff and other members of its community to avoid clicking on suspicious links or opening unfamiliar attachments as it investigates a potential cybersecurity threat involving ransomware claims.

The university said there is currently no confirmed evidence that its information technology environment, systems or data have been compromised.

In a statement issued Wednesday, The UWI said it had received an alert regarding a potential cybersecurity issue involving claims of ransomware.

“Students, staff and other members of the university community are being urged to remain vigilant, avoid clicking on suspicious links or attachments, and promptly report any unusual system activity or suspicious messages to their campus IT Helpdesk,” the university said.

"At this time, there is no confirmed evidence of a breach of our IT environment, systems, or any leaked university information. As a precaution, we are treating this matter with utmost seriousness. Our incident response plan is active.”

The UWI said it is also working with cybersecurity experts and regional authorities as technical teams across the university investigate the matter.

The teams are reviewing systems, checking for possible indicators of compromise and assessing the university's readiness to respond to any threat.

The university stressed that there was, at this stage, no confirmed evidence of a breach or leaked university information.

Meanwhile, the attack has already caused concern among students, staff, alumni and other stakeholders, the university acknowledged.

"I wasn't aware of this one just now, but I know that the university from time to time has been warning students about clicking on certain links,” one student close to the guild told The Gleaner.

“Certain things we have to be mindful of, certain emails that come as if from another student or staff member. But if you look at the email addresses, you can see that it is not the same as that of a student or staff member."

The UWI said it will provide further updates as the situation warrants.

- Corey Robinson

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