It has been nearly two months since Okanagan College experienced a cyber-incident, where an unauthorized group gained access to our technology systems.

Since that time, people across the College have worked tirelessly to restore normal operations. Services that support student learning and the day-to-day operations of OC have either been restored fully or partially, or replaced with a new or interim solution.

To everyone who has contributed to our response, thank you. Your professionalism, support and understanding through these first few months of 2023 is outstanding and what makes OC a strong community.

What progress has been made?
In January, when we first detected unauthorized access to our technology systems, we immediately disabled all access to the OC network. Since that time, bringing back and restoring each system has required a careful review, both from a security perspective, and from a functionality lens.

In some cases, we have made decisions to phase out systems that were no longer meeting College needs, and/or to use this opportunity to accelerate upgrades and improvements that were already planned.

Over the past month, key progress includes: securing all OC student and staff network accounts, adding multi-factor authentication, and restoring shared/employee files to users.

What is happening now?
IT Services is working directly with departments on multiple projects to continue increasing systems functionality and access. It is likely this work will continue through the spring months, and updates will be shared as they are available. In all cases, our priority is on ensuring safe and secure systems for the OC community.

What has the investigation into the cyber-incident determined?
At this point, we are still working with experts to complete a full investigation and to ensure the systems used by the College now and going forward are as safe and secure as possible. For security reasons, and as a matter of best practice, we will not be commenting publicly on the ongoing investigation findings, as those details could expose the College to further risk.

Can I still sign up for credit-monitoring?
Yes. Current students and employees are encouraged to follow the steps by May 31, 2023, to sign up for a free two-year subscription to myTrueIdentity, a premium credit monitoring and identity theft prevention service. For more information: Cyber-Incident and network updates | Okanagan College

Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)
When the cyber-incident and network outage first occurred, the College established an EOC to lead our response and prioritize actions. This group met daily for several weeks and has continued to meet twice weekly since early February. Now that many of the immediate/critical issues have been addressed, the EOC will have its last meeting this week. The projects and ongoing work that continues will be supported through our existing teams and departments.

How will we address any new issues related to the network outage?
New issues impacting any of our technology systems can be submitted through the ITS Helpdesk. This allows IT Services to “ticket” requests and ensure they are followed up.

If you have specific questions, please direct them to your manager or collegerelations@okanagan.bc.ca.