Thomas More University hacked in multiple ways after cyber attack on Facebook account
A local university was hit with a cyberattack that has left it with embarrassing and inappropriate pictures on their social media account that they can’t take down.
Thomas Moore University’s Facebook account was hacked, and all of their account managers are locked out.
“About three weeks ago we got a notice that told us all of the university administrators, who are admins on the page, have been removed,” said vice president of institutional advancement at Thomas More, Kevin Reynolds.
The first posting out of the university’s control was a live video game.
Most recently, the posts have been of a woman in suggestive poses with accompanying text. One reads, “I just rented a room that can accommodate two people.”
'Hacked' describes what happened and the reaction to it.
“Our students, our prospective students, our community members, of course, they’re frustrated. They’re annoyed. The content is obviously against everything as a catholic university that we stand for. It’s uncomfortable,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said they have a security team looking into the incident that told them the university appeared to be using the safest cyber security practices.
Even more frustrating, the university has had no help from Facebook with the problem.
“We’ve tagged Facebook in many different posts to try to get their attention. We’ve threatened legal action. We can’t get a response,” Reynolds said.
Finding who is responsible is also a problem.
“So much of this happens off-shore, where there’s no way to get to these people,” said Intrust IT cyber security expert Dave Hatter.
Hatter said even the woman in the pictures could be a victim.
“If she was behind the hack, she could potentially be prosecuted for this. My guess is they got these photos from somewhere else, or she’s outside the United States if she’s involved in it somehow," Hatter said.