Over a month after a malware attack shut down services across Baruch College, systems are still not fully restored. It is unacceptable that students and faculty are left without campus services, especially as updates come sporadically, often omitting information and misrepresenting the status.
The most recent email, sent on Oct. 27 with the subject line “Baruch College Network Update,” celebrated the progress of restoring its operations.
The email listed Baruch One Stop Shop, Office of the Dean of Students, Financial Aid Services, Office of the Registrar and Office of Student Life as returned services. The Starr Career Development Center and the Student Health Care Center were listed as returning soon.
This email was misleading: the listed student-facing offices did return to campus and the network still needs to be restored.
Instead of celebrating fake victories, Baruch needs to prioritize restoring student services and providing accurate updates on the progress.
While initial communication after the Sept. 25 malware attack was not always the most helpful, they were at least consistent — in the month since the attack, communication has worsened.
Baruch College Technology Center has been unable to install the security software on all campus computers, restore the VPN or regain access to MyBaruch.
Though faculty may be back on campus, operations are in no way fully restored.
Although clubs try to make the best of the situation, scheduled events have been canceled or uncertain. Students are deprived of enriching experiences and guests planned to speak at professional club events are left with a poor impression of the school.
Understandably, there are limits to what BCTC can restore and the lengthy timeline for restoration, but it is unacceptable for Baruch to be without essential services for so long. Without a timeline for restoration or truthful updates, students are left feeling hopeless.
A large component of what Baruch students pay for are their extracurricular experiences and student-support services.
There has also been no communication on whether personal information has been compromised.
Over a month ago President S. David Wu said the “BCTC team is still assessing the impact on office desktop files, but there is evidence that some desktop files on individual computers may not be recoverable. Fortunately, we have seen no evidence that personal data has been extracted or compromised.”
There has been no update from the president since that email.
Baruch — with the support of CUNY Central — must put its full effort into restoring student services. Baruch students and faculty deserve to know what if any, steps have been taken to resolve the issue.
