American college must close doors for good after ransomware attack

Lincoln College in the US state of Illinois will close its doors for good at the end of this week. The educational institution cites the pandemic and a ransomware attack at the end of 2021 as the main reasons for closing the school.

The ransomware attack took place in December last year and is said to have had serious consequences for the internal systems of the relatively small university of applied sciences let the management know. “[De cyberaanval] thwarted all registration actions and blocked all institutional data, creating an unclear picture of the number of applications for the fall of 2022. All systems necessary for recruiting and retaining students, as well as for raising money, were blocked.” No personal data was allegedly stolen in the attack.

It took several months for Lincoln College to get all the data back together, but by then it turned out to be too late. Funds could no longer be raised in time for the current school year. Although the ransomware attack proved to be the last straw, the financial problems were caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a record number of applications in the fall of 2019, all health measures and technology requirements proved too expensive for the school during the pandemic. Also, many students postponed their studies because of the pandemic, which caused further financial problems.

Lincoln College opened in 1865 on what turned out to be the last birthday of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The university says it has survived several crises since then, including the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, two world wars and the financial crisis of 2009.