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Online instruction at Heartland Community College in Illinois has temporarily ceased as the college investigates a cyberattack and tries to limit its impact.
The college “became aware that some of our technology systems were compromised by an outside source” on Monday, said a statement shared by Steve Fast, director of public information at Heartland, in an email.
On Tuesday, the college’s online operations, including all online classes and access to email, were disrupted. The college’s website remained down Tuesday afternoon.
Instruction at Heartland moved largely online this semester in response to the pandemic. The college informed students via social media that their instructors would be in touch to reschedule missed classes, tests and assignments. The college has also established a helpline for student queries while online operations are down.
The college is not aware of any student or personnel data compromised by the cyberattack. College IT staff and outside consultants are “conducting a thorough investigation of the nature and extent of the outside action,” the statement said.
Heartland is working to resume normal online operations as quickly as possible, but it did not provide a timeline. The college has not shared any more information on the nature of the cyberattack.
