Message from the Executive Board - 6 January 2019
Dear members of the UM community,
It was a special Christmas break in many ways. The cyber attack that took place on 23 December has had major consequences. Some of our colleagues had to forego their Christmas break and (literally) work day and night. Others have sacrificed part of their vacation voluntarily to help. Students and researchers were dwelling in uncertainty with deadlines looming. Many expressed their sympathy and offered their help. This community spirit has touched us deeply and we are extremely grateful for all your effort. We are proud of everyone who has contributed.
UM becomes operational again
The first education-related systems were re-launched on 2 January, so that teaching can continue. Various functionalities have been added to this in the past days. Today, we are happy to announce that, as of Tuesday 7 January 8.00, email and calendar are available again. The good news does not stop there. Staff need to be able to edit files on shared drives. From tomorrow morning, this option is available again. Based on our employees’ achievements so far, we dare announce that many new functionalities will follow in the coming days. Nevertheless, it will be a long time before UM is as operational as it was before the cyber attack. We hope for your understanding!
Support in the event of a backlog
We fully understand that the cyber attack has had an impact on our academic community; from students who were unable to access their study materials to prepare for exams to researchers who could not continue with that crucial grant application. We will take into consideration any damage or disadvantage incurred. With additional resits and ad hoc solutions, we’ll try to prevent study delays. If that is not sufficient, students can appeal to a special leniency arrangement (more information in due course via the website). Researchers can contact the faculty information points and their managers.
The website remains important
Even now, that email works again, the website will remain an important means of communication. Over time, we will move the communication updates for the UM community to the intranet.
Again: Thank you!!
It remains for us to sincerely thank everyone for all their support, understanding, compassion, patience and of course the extra hours worked. We're going to make it up to you. We hope that the sense of community brought about by this event remain in our university for a long time.