The Cal State Long Beach website server was hacked for the first time ever last week.
An unknown perpetrator gained control of one of the website’s administrative service accounts on June 26 around 4 p.m., which allowed the hacker to redirect visitors to a site containing malware, a dangerous type of software.
Students and faculty who tried to gain access to either csulb.edu or mycsulb.edu through a search engine, such as Google, were warned that both websites could contain malware and be potentially harmful.
The sites, however, could still be reached directly by entering the URL into the address bar of an internet browser.
Many confused students called the technology support desk at CSULB.
“They weren’t upset,” said Steve La, director for networking telecommunications and security. “They were more just asking, ‘What do I do? It’s not working.'”
The issue persisted until 3:30 p.m. on June 27, the following day.
“Once we detected it, we immediately disabled the account,” La said. “Google rescanned the site, and we were back on.”
The server’s first major security breach in its 19-year history has some students concerned about the privacy of their personal MyCSULB accounts, which are used to register for classes and pay fees.
“That’s where we pay our tuition,” Jorge Modelevski, a senior health major, said. “That has all our bank account information on it. That’s a lot of personal information.”
Phil Duran, a senior business management major, finds it even more alarming that an administrative account, not a personal one, was compromised.
Despite the concerns, La insists that the hacking was an isolated incident.
“We’re working to update our security,” La said. “We’re going to change the integration on the system. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again.”