Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands disconnected its entire network on the night of Saturday, January 11, 2025, after ICT staff noticed suspicious activity on university servers at around 21:00. The university announced the shutdown the following day.
The disconnection was a precaution intended to prevent further damage. It left students and staff without email, Wi-Fi, the Canvas learning environment and Microsoft Teams, and also took down internal telephony, canteen payment tills and parking barriers. Campus buildings and laboratories stayed open, and research work that did not depend on the network continued.
All lectures and other educational activities were cancelled from Monday, January 13. The timing fell in the last instruction week of the second quartile, a period given over to catch-up sessions and exam preparation. Vice president Patrick Groothuis said the university was working to bring the network back securely rather than quickly, and TU/e set up a WhatsApp helpdesk and a dedicated web page for updates.
The university said there was no sign at that stage that data had been stolen and did not describe the nature of the attack, which remained under investigation. The Record reported no indication that neighbouring organisations, including chip equipment maker ASML, were affected. TU/e said it would set out the outlook for Wednesday, January 15 in an update on January 13.