Update to the OC Community on the recent cyber-incident

Good afternoon OC students and staff,

As you are aware, on Jan. 9, Okanagan College responded to an incident in which an unauthorized group gained access to our technology systems. As soon as the intrusion was detected, we took steps to contain the incident and engaged police and cyber-security experts to assist with the investigation of the incident and the restoration of our systems, both of which are active and ongoing.

Specifically, we notified agencies including the RCMP, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C., and the Canadian Centre for Cyber-Security, whose recommendations we continue to follow.

Since then, with the support of numerous external experts, we have been working tirelessly to restore normal operations for our students and staff as quickly and safely as possible.

As soon as it became clear that personal information belonging to current students and staff may have been subject to risk, we took immediate steps. On Jan. 23, we provided access to credit monitoring and identity theft prevention services. We continue to encourage all current students and staff to take advantage of this service.

These past few weeks have been difficult for many people across Okanagan College. Unfortunately, no organization can be entirely immune to this type of unlawful activity. There is still work ahead of us and over the coming several weeks we will be working with experts to determine as best possible what information was impacted. Should our ongoing investigation determine that further notifications are necessary, we will proceed with that step accordingly.

We recognize that people may have questions and regret that we are unable to provide further information at this time, as the investigation into this incident is very much active and ongoing. We will not be sharing information that is speculative in nature and/or that could further jeopardize the security of our systems and our people.

Okanagan College will continue to share updates as further information is confirmed through the ongoing investigation, and we will continue to prioritize our community’s safety and security. For updated FAQs and information about credit monitoring services for current students and staff, please visit: Cyber-Incident and network updates | Okanagan College.

Thank you to everyone across the Okanagan College community for your resilience and support.

Dr. Neil Fassina
President
Okanagan College