New Mexico Highlands University canceled a week of classes after ransomware attack

New Mexico Highlands University, a public institution in Las Vegas, New Mexico, said its information technology staff identified a technical problem on April 3, 2024 affecting the server that runs the MyNMHU Portal. The university confirmed within days that the disruption was caused by ransomware.

The portal is the gateway students, faculty and staff use for online classes, course materials, campus email and classroom technology, and payroll systems reached through the campus network were affected as well. With the portal down, the university canceled classes beginning that Wednesday afternoon and extended the suspension into the following week, leaving students without instruction for more than a week.

NMHU took the affected systems offline and opened a help center so employees could phone in their hours and keep paychecks on schedule. Officials worked with the New Mexico Department of Information Technology and the state Higher Education Department on the response. Spokesperson David Lepre said the school was working as fast as it could to restore service to the campus community.

The university said faculty would decide how students could finish their coursework and that semester end dates and graduation plans would not change. As of mid-April 2024 the investigation was continuing, and NMHU had not said publicly whether student or employee data was accessed or whether a ransom was demanded.