UTA says it is investigating suspected cyber incident affecting MachForms

What happened

According to The Cyber Express, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) says it is investigating a cybersecurity incident that “may have involved unauthorized activity” in some of its IT systems. The outlet reports that UTA disclosed this in a notice to students and employees. The university has not confirmed that an attack took place.

The notice says the incident affected MachForms, an online form platform the university uses for event registrations, inquiries from prospective students, service requests and surveys, according to The Cyber Express.

The outlet gives this timeline, taken from the university’s cybersecurity website:

• October 27: MachForms became temporarily unavailable. Office of Information Technology (OIT) technicians began investigating.
• The following Wednesday: OIT started corrective measures to restore services.
• Thursday: the notice to students and employees was sent.

The Cyber Express reports that UTA is still working to determine whether the incident spread to other university systems or disrupted other operations. As of Tuesday night, the cybersecurity website had posted no updates since Thursday.

Not confirmed:

• the entry point
• whether any data was accessed or taken
• whether a flaw in MachForms itself was involved
• any attacker or attribution
• when service will be fully restored

There is no independent verification beyond the university’s notice as reported by The Cyber Express.

Am I affected?

• UTA students, employees and prospective students who used UTA’s MachForms forms may be affected. According to The Cyber Express, MachForms remained affected at the time of reporting.
• Other organisations that run MachForms: the source does not report a vulnerability in the MachForms product. Any impact outside UTA is not confirmed.

What to do now

UTA’s notice, as reported by The Cyber Express, asks students and employees to:

1. Follow official guidance from the Office of Information Technology and the Information Security Office, and watch university communications.
2. Report suspicious activity to the Information Security Office. This includes unusual computer behaviour or suspicious emails.
3. Avoid investigating the incident yourself or sharing unverified information. Direct questions to a department head or OIT, and refer journalists to UTA media relations.
4. Follow any further instructions. The university says that if action on passwords, devices, systems or work practices becomes necessary, it will send specific guidance through official channels.
5. Contact the OIT service desk if you have urgent and significant operational needs that require MachForms access.

Sources

• The Cyber Express: UTA Investigates Suspected Cyberattack After MachForms Service Disruption