[dropcap]S[/dropcap]tudent accommodation Shanowen Square was targeted by a cyber attack from an overseas account which contacted residents on their behalf looking for payment.
Residents of Shanowen Square received fraudulent emails which pretended to be Shanowen Square and asked for immediate payments to be made to an overseas bank account, according to an email sent to all residents after the security breach.
Shanowen Square General Manager Lorraine Rabbitte contacted DCU VP for Welfare and Equality Podge Henry on August 17th, saying “it has come to our attention that our computer security system has been breached in the last 48 hours”.
An email was sent to all incoming residents warning that the false emails were not from Shanowen Square, and was this forwarded on to Henry, stating “in the interests of security we are emailing all of our residents to make them aware of this”.
“I know that the servers fine now and they’re not hacked anymore, but that’s about as much as I know about that” he said.
“I myself was nearly caught because I had applied to live in Shanowen Square for the year, and just like everyone else I had to be put on the waiting list and then got an email to say that I got the Shanowen Square but obviously that was the hacking.”
“I think my mother nearly actually paid. But it was addressed quite fast by Lorraine. She obviously knew and the email was sent to me right away, and I’m hoping that the students didn’t fall for it” said Henry.
“I know a lot of them [the students] got the email after we’d sent out the warning email so I think the issue was thankfully nipped in the bud quite soon.”
Due to the sensitive nature of the situation, Shanowen Square were not able to comment on the issue.
Fionnuala Walsh