Vanderbilt University told employees to shut down university devices and disconnect from Wi-Fi on Monday as it responded to an active cybersecurity attack.
Vanderbilt Athletics received an alert just after 10 a.m, and the university sent a memo to all staff at 11:26 a.m.
“We are currently responding to an active cybersecurity incident that may impact university devices, systems and cloud-based services,” the memo said. “Our information technology team is actively investigating and working to contain the situation.”
The university asked all employees to turn off any university-issued devices and remain vigilant for suspicious activity.
Some employees also reported hearing a recorded message on their devices.
“Make the right choice or rot with the wrong one,” a voice said in a message received by some Vanderbilt staff members, according to a source.
Laurie Woods, a criminology professor, told the university’s newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler, that the voice message played during her class.
“I received the message on the computer with about 40 documents that said ‘Read Me’ and a verbal message, both of which I shared with students,” Woods told The Hustler. “It is out of our control, ...