UMass Lowell cancels classes for second day as ‘cybersecurity incident’ investigated

UMass Lowell canceled both in-person and online classes for the second day in a row on Wednesday as the university continues to investigate a “cybersecurity incident” affecting its technology services.

“UMass Lowell continues to retain control over its IT infrastructure and is working with a leading cyber forensics firm to identify, evaluate and eliminate any issues that are discovered,” the school said in a statement on Tuesday. “Out of an abundance of caution, all network communications have been suspended by the university to and from the campus network while the scope of the incident is evaluated.”

The outage is also affecting the university’s Haverhill campus.

University employees may notice a software program, Red Cloak, temporarily installed on institution devices by IT to identify and evaluate potential cybersecurity threats, the school said.

“If any threats are identified, IT will correct the issues and then begin incrementally restoring network services, prioritizing academic technology infrastructure such as Blackboard and Zoom,” the statement said.

The university has set up a temporary website while the incident, which was first reported by the school on Tuesday morning, continues to affect its main site.

No timeframe has been set for a full restoration of the university’s system.

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