The attacks started right before Christmas and continued until early January

Jan 21, 2013 10:32 GMT  ·  By

Hackers started probing the systems of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) right before Christmas and continued until early January. They managed to break in on Christmas Day and several other occasions after that. 

As a result, the educational institution was forced to shut down 25 servers.

In addition, UNSW suspended several user accounts and asked staffers to change their passwords to avoid any unfortunate incidents, the Sydney Morning Herald informs.

An internal investigation has been launched, but the incident has not been reported to the police.

The university’s representatives say there’s no indication that the attackers have managed to cause any damage.

Universities are often targeted by cybercriminals. Not only because of the sensitive information they store, but also because their resources could be successfully utilized to launch other attacks.