Data on 130,000 students and teachers possibly exposed, Osaka university says

Osaka – Osaka Metropolitan University has said that data on at least 130,000 students and teachers at the institution may have been exposed to unauthorized access due to a system failure caused by a cyberattack.

“It is regrettable that we could not prevent the incident,” Hiroyuki Sakuragi, president of the university in Osaka Prefecture said at a news conference held Monday to announce the possible data breach. “We will deal with the situation so that the university can fulfill its mission.”

About 500 servers related to the university’s information system stopped operating after a suspected ransomware attack on Friday, according to the school.

Data that may have been exposed includes the names, addresses and email addresses of people related to the university as well as information linked to Osaka Prefecture University and Osaka City University, which merged in April 2022 to create the current institution.

The campus network for students and the portal site for the teaching staff remained unusable as of Monday. Lectures have been canceled.

Osaka Metropolitan University is speeding up work to restore the affected system in order to reopen lectures Friday.