The outage of several of important student systems at LBCC has left students with many questions, but the college seems reluctant to give any answers
Staff and faculty of LBCC were notified of the outage as early as Monday. Many professors notified their students of the downed systems, but students weren’t officially notified until Wednesday morning via the school’s website.
The college sent direct messages to some students via text. I was not one of them. The message notified students that LBCC was “experiencing problems due to malware,” which begs the question: Have hackers gained access to LBCC’s servers?
LBCC’s Associate Director of Public Relations and Marketing Stacey Toda told members of the Viking staff that there had been no hacking, and Superintendent-President Reagan Romali said in an official statement that the downed systems have been “a small bump in our normal day.”
Even if the malware was not planted by hackers, how did it get into our systems? Why wasn’t our information protected? And it may be just a “small bump” to Dr. Romali, but it is a huge inconvenience and seems like a potential disaster for many LBCC students.
As an LBCC student who is graduating and transferring at the end of this semester, I feel extremely disrespected at the lack of transparency the college has displayed over the last week, especially considering that much of my important information is at risk, including my transcripts, which are vital to my transfer.
Furthermore, many students are awaiting their financial aid disbursement next week and have received no information as to if they will still be receiving their money. Students rely on this money to get by, and not receiving it could be catastrophic to their academic progress and livelihood.
With all due respect Dr. Romali and Ms. Toda, I feel like we as students have been left in the dark and given the runaround. We need to know the truth. Our futures are at stake.