14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the university's announcement that business operations will resume on Thursday, June 17, all face-to-face and online classes are canceled this week.
All classes were postponed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday as officials look over a probable cybersecurity incident involving technology services, classified as an IT outage. University Massachusetts Lowell has developed a temporary website to keep students and staff informed while the institution remains closed this week due to a cybersecurity investigation.
The school announced Wednesday afternoon that it was resuming services and gradually restoring its technology infrastructure. Blackboard and Zoom are being prioritized as core instructional services. UMass Lowell is also finalizing its summer course schedule to allow for make-up dates and extended deadlines for classes that were canceled due to the outage.
The university wrote on its temporary website, UMassLowell.com "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".
"Additional information will be provided as it becomes available and posted here while the university’s main website is unavailable".
UMass Lowell remains closed this week
The university's website initially stated that all face-to-face, online and commercial courses would resume Wednesday, but later announced that learning activities would again be postponed. In fact, UMass Lowell reported the university will be closed on Friday, June 18, as scheduled in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday.
According to the organization, some staff may have sporadic access to some systems and key individuals are urged to report as directed. The hack also impacted the Haverhill campus.
Although some university services remain inaccessible, many employees have maintained access to email and other off-campus networks. Managers are also working with staff to ensure that tasks that can be done are completed.