Cyberattack Disrupts University of Texas at San Antonio Ahead of New Semester
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), one of Texas’s largest universities with 40,000 students across six campuses, is grappling with widespread IT disruptions following a cyberattack detected over the weekend. The incident, announced on Monday, prompted the university to take critical systems including phones offline as a precautionary measure.
Classes are set to begin Wednesday, and the outages threaten to complicate key processes such as course registration and tuition payments. UTSA’s chief technology officer, Michael Schnabel, confirmed that the threat activity was detected at the network’s edge and contained before reaching core systems. While the investigation found no evidence of data access or exfiltration, the university acknowledged the urgency of restoring services before the academic year starts.
To mitigate the impact, UTSA extended the student payment deadline to Friday and adjusted course waitlist procedures. A planned password reset for students and faculty, however, faced delays, as noted in a Tuesday update.
No hacking group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Universities have become frequent targets for cybercriminals, particularly during high-traffic periods like the start or end of semesters, when ransom demands are more likely to succeed. Recent incidents at institutions like the University of Oklahoma, Stanford, and the University of Michigan highlight the growing trend of ransomware attacks on higher education. In May, a cyberattack on a key education software provider forced multiple U.S. universities to delay final exams.
Source: https://therecord.media/university-of-texas-forced-to-take-systems-offline-cyberattack-san-antonio
Stanford TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/stanford-university
"id": "sta1787078086",
"linkid": "stanford-university",
"type": "Ransomware",
"date": "8/2026",
"severity": "100",
"impact": "5",
"explanation": "Attack threatening the organization's existence"{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': '40,000 students and faculty',
'industry': 'Higher Education',
'location': 'San Antonio, Texas, USA',
'name': 'University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)',
'size': '40,000 students across six campuses',
'type': 'University'}],
'customer_advisories': 'Extended payment deadline, adjusted course waitlist '
'procedures, delayed password reset',
'data_breach': {'data_exfiltration': 'No evidence of data exfiltration'},
'date_detected': 'Over the weekend (specific date not provided)',
'date_publicly_disclosed': 'Monday (specific date not provided)',
'description': 'The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is grappling '
'with widespread IT disruptions following a cyberattack '
'detected over the weekend. The incident prompted the '
'university to take critical systems including phones offline '
'as a precautionary measure. Classes are set to begin '
'Wednesday, and the outages threaten to complicate key '
'processes such as course registration and tuition payments.',
'impact': {'data_compromised': 'No evidence of data access or exfiltration',
'operational_impact': 'Disrupted course registration, tuition '
'payments, and password reset processes',
'systems_affected': 'Critical systems including phones, course '
'registration, and tuition payment systems'},
'investigation_status': 'Ongoing',
'ransomware': {'data_exfiltration': 'No evidence of data exfiltration'},
'references': [{'source': 'Cyber Incident Description'}],
'response': {'containment_measures': 'Took critical systems offline, '
'contained threat activity at the '
'network’s edge',
'recovery_measures': 'Extended student payment deadline, '
'adjusted course waitlist procedures'},
'title': 'Cyberattack Disrupts University of Texas at San Antonio Ahead of '
'New Semester',
'type': 'Cyberattack'}