Quick Summary
- Office of the President is investigating to determine the scope of the attack
- 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏOP will reach out directly to any 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis affiliates affected by this incident
- Report suspicious email without clicking on any links or replying to the sender
A letter sent by email today (March 31), from Viji Murali, vice provost, Information and Educational Technology, and chief information officer; and Cheryl Washington, chief information security officer.
To Our Campus Community:
The 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis Information Security Office is working with 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏOP in response to a security incident involving 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ employee information.
Beginning Monday, March 29, many 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis email accounts started receiving messages stating that their personal data had been stolen and would be released. We learned from our colleagues that similar messages were being received in email accounts for multiple campuses throughout the 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ system.
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The Information Security Office investigated and found that these emails contained a link to a public website where a sample of personal data from 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ employees was posted. Working with the IET uConnect email team, we took steps to block these messages from being received by 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis email accounts.
We have subsequently learned that some personal 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ employee data was obtained through a cyberattack on a 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏOP system, and this was the source for the information released. The security team at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏOP, working with law enforcement, is investigating the matter and has released a statement that you can read on the Dateline news site.
51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏOP is working to determine the scope, and will reach out directly to any members of the 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis community affected by this incident. In the meantime, if you receive any suspicious email, please report it to cybersecurity@ucdavis.edu without clicking on any links or replying to the sender.
This is also a good time to review cybersecurity tips. The 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Cyber Security Awareness Fundamentals course includes some great content on these types of issues; please log onto the to view the course if you have not already done so.
Always be suspicious of any email asking for personal or user account information. 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis will never ask you for such information via email. If you have questions or concerns, please contact cybersecurity@ucdavis.edu.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Viji Murali
Vice Provost, Information and Educational Technology
and Chief Information Officer
Cheryl Washington
Chief Information Security Officer
Media Resources
Dateline Staff: Dave Jones, editor, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu; Cody Kitaura, News and Media Relations specialist, 530-752-1932, kitaura@ucdavis.edu.