Cyberattack on Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) was affected by a cyberattack, leading to the temporary suspension of classes and an attempted data hostage-taking. The university's IT team detected the attempt early and shut down crucial systems to limit damage. While initial access by hackers was reported on January 6, the incident became publicly known and was actively responded to around January 8-11, with the network being taken offline on January 11-12 to prevent further infiltration. The attack likely involved an infostealer and was possibly a ransomware attempt, though no ransom was paid and no data exfiltration was confirmed at the time of initial reports. The incident exposed shortcomings in digital security, particularly the lack of multi-factor authentication on the VPN network.