What happened
Italy’s largest university, La Sapienza, was forced to take its online services offline after a cyberattack disrupted operations. According to the report, the institution’s IT systems suffered a security incident that led administrators to disconnect affected infrastructure from the network to prevent further spread of the compromise. The outage impacted student access to internal platforms, email systems, and academic services, with administrators working to assess the extent of the breach and restore services. Officials communicated to staff and students that the outage was due to a “malicious cyberattack” that targeted the university’s digital infrastructure, prompting an ongoing investigation with support from cybersecurity specialists. No details were provided about the specific malware or attack methods used, nor was there confirmation of data theft at the time of reporting.
Who is affected
Students, faculty, and administrators at La Sapienza University are directly affected by the outage, losing access to online academic systems and internal networks due to the cyberattack.
Why CISOs should care
Cyberattacks that disrupt core academic systems at major educational institutions highlight the operational risk posed by targeted intrusions against critical infrastructure, emphasizing the need for robust incident response and continuity planning.
3 practical actions
- Isolate affected systems. Keep compromised infrastructure offline to prevent further spread.
- Engage forensic analysis. Work with cybersecurity experts to determine the attack vector and scope.
- Restore services securely. Validate system integrity before reconnecting and resuming operations.