Southeastern Louisiana University took its network offline after cyberattack

Southeastern Louisiana University, based in Hammond, took its campus network offline in late February 2023 after detecting what it described as a potential incident within its systems. Outages began on the evening of Thursday, February 23, and the university confirmed several days later that it was dealing with a cyberattack.

The shutdown removed the university website, email and the portal students use to submit assignments. Students reported being unable to complete coursework or reach instructors through normal channels, and some said their campus cards would not open dormitory doors or pay for food. Professors turned to Facebook and other outside channels to reach classes, and the campus police department could not receive email.

Louisiana State Police opened an investigation. Both the university and the state police declined to give details while the inquiry was under way, and the university did not say whether ransomware was involved or whether any data had been taken.

Officials said they were steadily restoring services and warned that users would be prompted to create a new password the first time they logged in once systems returned. The disruption ran for at least five days and, by later accounts, considerably longer, with the university still working toward normal operations at the start of March 2023.