Cyber incident - Daily round up
23 Jun 2023
Today's key information - 23 June 2023
Data update
We now understand some more about the data that has been accessed by a criminal entity (https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=29966). Based on our investigations, we believe a small proportion of data has been copied and that some of the data relate to some of our students, and alumni. We have directly contacted those individuals who may have been affected by this through University channels. We understand the concern created for those who may have been directly affected and support is available to these individuals and all our students and colleagues.
We continue to encourage all our students and colleagues to take up the offer of the 12-month subscription with Experian; details were shared in an email communication earlier this week. We understand this continues to be a concerning time for our community, and we encourage colleagues to access our wellbeing support where needed, and continue to direct any concerned students to the wellbeing support available.
You can find support:
- on the cyber incident wellbeing support pages on StaffNet - https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/wellbeing/resources/cyber-incident/;
- through the Employee Assistance Programme (available 24 hours a day, seven days a week) - https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/people-and-od/benefits/staff-support/workplace-health/mental-health/employee-assistance-programme/
Students can access support via our Student Support website - https://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk/taking-care/.
Our expert teams are working round the clock to resolve this issue. A further thank you to all colleagues also supporting those students affected.
Communication
We understand that our colleagues, students, and partners are rightly concerned about this current incident and we want to reassure you that we are trying to answer as many of your questions as quickly as possible.
This is a live incident and consequently, advice and guidance around the incident are changing very quickly. For that reason, and to prioritise our effort on resolving the issue itself as soon as possible, we are unable to answer every individual query.
We are committed however to grouping questions into themes and topics and will provide information to those affected by the cyber incident as soon as we are able to. If anyone might bedirectly affected by this incident, they will be contacted through University channels.
Please review our Information and support page for more information.
Each section has a date stamp as to when the guidance was last updated.
Reminders
Experian Offer
Earlier this week, all colleagues and PGRs received an email outlining a free, 12-month subscription to one of the leading identity protection services, Experian Identity Plus*. If you are struggling to locate the email in your inbox, please search for the sender ‘‘The University of Manchester noreply@comms.manchester.ac.uk’.
The email contains a unique activation code that will unlock your Identity Plus offer. These codes are valid for a 3-month period. Please do not forward your email to anyone else as they will have received their own unique code.
If you have already accessed the Identity Plus service via the USS data breach, the University will honour a further 12-month subscription once this runs out. Colleagues should contact Wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk once their USS subscription has expired and they will be provided with a new unique code.
If you have checked your inbox and still haven’t received your Experian email, please contact Wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk. If you’ve received your email but your unique code isn’t working, please contact Experian’s Customer Support Centre on 03444 818 182**.
*Please note that the Experian Identity Plus offer is only available for UK- based permanent or fixed-term University employees and postgraduate research students.
**Charges for 03 numbers are the same as standard UK numbers starting 01 or 02. If you can call a 01 or 02 number as part of free inclusive minutes, the same will apply to calling 03 numbers.
Cyber incident guidance and support
All our latest information and guidance, including wellbeing support and FAQs, can be found at: