Mount Royal University confirms attackers stole and then deleted its files

Mount Royal University in Calgary has confirmed that attackers breached its network in June, stole data from its file storage systems, and then deleted the files to hinder recovery, as the hackers now publicly claim the attack. The intrusion, detected around June 18, disrupted phones, the university website, and other systems. The affected storage held academic material such as assignments and research, but the university acknowledges some students and staff may have kept personal information there, and a separate departmental drive was also wiped. Mount Royal is notifying affected individuals and offering credit monitoring to current and recent employees, though not to students.

Check

Students and staff of Mount Royal University should watch for a notification, take up offered credit monitoring where eligible, and stay alert to phishing referencing the university or their information.

Affected

Mount Royal University students and staff whose academic and possibly personal data sat on the affected drives; the attackers both stole the data and deleted it, complicating recovery and raising extortion pressure.

Fix

Maintain tested, offline backups so deleted data can be restored, segment and monitor file storage, enforce phishing-resistant MFA, and prepare incident-response and communication plans for attacks that both steal and destroy data.