GODFREY, Ill. — Normally, in the week after Thanksgiving, students and staff members would be heading back to campus, but Lewis and Clark Community College remains closed as college leaders work to investigate a ransomware attack.
"Essentially since Wednesday the 24th, all of our systems have been down we have been in restoration and recovery mode, investigation mode since that time," President Ken Trzaska said.
Trzaska said their information technology team noticed suspicious activity last Tuesday. The following day, they shut down the school's computer network, closed the campuses and canceled their extracurriculars.
"There's an organization that hacked into our systems and they have some demands and so that negotiation team is working with that group to get proof and then to move forward from there," Trzaska said.
"We can't turn in our assignments," first-semester student Jordan Garris said.
Trzaska assures students won't be held academically responsible.
"We've extended the grade due date for faculty and of course we're asking faculty to be flexible with their students regarding final exams and other assignments that may be due at the end of the semester," Trzaska said.
The college's insurance company brought in experts that now make up a forensic, investigation, recovery and negotiation team.
"We have experts on campus as we speak, working around the clock. They landed in St. Louis Friday and they've been on campus since then," Trzaska said.
Trzaska said the hackers requested an amount of money through email, but he wouldn't say how much the organization asked for.
"It just actually blows my mind that somebody actually has that much control and that much knowledge to be able to take out an entire school," Garris said.
College leaders are confident that they'll be in a better place by the end of the week and have more information on when they can reopen.
As of Monday, Trzaska said they have no reason to believe any of their faculty or students' personal information has been compromised.