December 14, 2023

Thank You for Your Partnership During the Baruch Network Restoration

To the Baruch Community,

As we approach the completion of the network restoration, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and partnership as we navigated the system-wide outage.

In a matter of seconds on the morning of September 25, our system was compromised and had to be shutdown. Students, faculty, and staff pivoted to remote work and instruction, adapting lesson plans, and re-creating lost data and documents. Thank you for your resilience and understanding during this difficult time, which allowed us to resume in-person instruction despite the challenges. 

I want to take a moment and again share our deep appreciation for the hard work, commitment, patience, and diligence shown by the team at the Baruch Computing and Technology Center (BCTC). They took immediate action at the first sign of compromise, working around the clock with assistance from industry experts and the CUNY Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS) to resolve the issue. A truly herculean effort.

The guiding commitments of care and respect and strategic communication outlined in our strategic plan were critical in managing this crisis. Our core values served as inspiration as we developed solutions, collaborated across teams, and found creative approaches to stay true to our mission of transformational learning.

Coming out of the crisis we have a stronger, more secure, and more reliable system. We have taken significant measures to protect and enhance our technical infrastructure to minimize vulnerability to future cyber threats and protect data on our network. We have installed antimalware XDR software, upgraded laptops to include a more secure version of Windows, and implemented multi-factor authentication for Microsoft 365. There may be some challenges as we acclimate to these enhancements, but all these measures will make the network safer and reduce risk.

I encourage all in our community to participate in the CUNY 40-minute Cybersecurity Awareness training designed specifically for CUNY students, faculty, and staff. This course covers various cybersecurity risks, such as phishing attacks, spam, hacked accounts, and best data safeguarding practices. You can view the course on Blackboard.  
 

Regards,

S. David Wu

President, Baruch College