CPCC to resume classes next week after ransomware attack shut down the school

Most classes at Central Piedmont Community College will resume next week after a Feb. 10 ransomware attack took the school offline, CPCC said. The attack also will affect spring break.

On-campus classes, courses offered in Brightspace and online portions of hybrid classes in Brightspace will resume Monday, the school said in a statement. All other spring semester courses will resume March 1.

The school also said classes that used the Blackboard system would finish the semester in Brightspace, and it advised students and faculty that the transition would “take some time.”

The interruption to the spring semester now means that spring break, which is scheduled for March 8-12, will need to be instructional days for many classes.

CPCC shut down its network services, including email and phone systems, after a ransomware attack was detected Feb. 10. That led to the cancellation of most classes through Wednesday. Email remains unavailable.

Investigators have found no evidence that student or employee personal information was accessed or extracted, the school said. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate the attack.

CPCC set up a website for updates: https://www.cpcc.edu/technology-interruptions.

Ransomware is a form of malware that targets computer systems and encrypts files, rendering them unusable, according to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. The “malicious actors” then demand ransom in exchange for decryption.

According to the N.C. Department of Justice, the state experienced a record 1,644 data breaches in 2020, a 36% increase from the record set in 2019. The figure includes 356 cases caused by ransomware. Nearly 1.2 million North Carolinians were affected by data breaches, according to the state report.

Staff writer Amanda Zhou contributed to this story.

This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 12:37 PM.