ASU restored services to its website Thursday night and ASURITE users were able to begin resetting their passwords.
The University reported a possible compromise to its online system Wednesday evening after an unknown individual downloaded an encrypted file containing usernames and passwords that students, faculty and alumni use to access MyASU. The ASU website and MyASU system were shut down as a precaution.
All services were restored by about 7:45 p.m.
ASU spokeswoman Terri Shafer said no personal data, including financial information, was accessed by the individual.
The system was shut down before the hacker had time to decrypt the file, ASU spokeswoman Julie Newberg said.
“It would have taken someone a significant amount of time and computing resources to break that encryption,” Newberg said.
Officials said the University is working with local and federal law enforcement to find out how and who accessed the information.
When the system was restored Thursday night, many users were met with “Password reset is at capacity” messages when they attempted to change their passwords.
“Please note that users may experience slow response as the system tries to accommodate the large number of password reset requests, and so we ask that all users please have patience as we restore access to the systems,” according to a University statement released late Thursday.
University Technology Office spokesman Gordon Wishon said in an email that technical staff worked through the night Wednesday and into Thursday to test the password reset page.
The page asks for specific information to prove the user’s identity, including last known password, last four digits of social security number and date of birth.
“This was done as a further precautionary measure to ensure that if account information and passwords have indeed been stolen by an intruder, the intruder would be prevented from successfully utilizing them to access ASU systems,” Wishon said.
UTO is closely monitoring the page for lags over the next few days caused by the large number of users attempting to access it at one time.
“We are keenly aware of the anxiety that this outage has caused students, faculty and staff, and that students especially need access to these systems restored quickly,” Wishon said. “But we also take the protection of the sensitive information on our systems very seriously and believe that the precautions being taken are necessary to protect the members of our University community.”
Students and teachers continued holding classes while access to the system was blocked.
Math and statistics lecturer Ryan Melendez said his teaching was not affected, but he did have trouble communicating with students.
“I had to make a few extra preparations for class, but that was about it,” Melendez said. “I had delays getting back to students, or being able to get back to students at all.”
Students experiencing issues are being asked to contact the UTO Help Desk at 855-278-5080.
Reach the reporter at ymgonzal@asu.edu
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