Dutch universities hit by new DDoS attack, causing major disruptions
Universities and colleges in southern Netherlands were hit Thursday by a new Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack targeting their shared network, according to SURF, the IT organization that manages the institutions' digital infrastructure.
In a DDoS attack, attackers flood networks and systems with so much traffic that they collapse under the pressure, disrupting services. The latest attack caused “slow internet connections or no connection at all” for affected campuses, such as Maastricht, Tilburg, and Utrecht.
Educational institutions in other parts of the country also experienced disruptions. “Due to the high volume of traffic, other points in the network outside this region are also becoming congested,” SURF said.
Maastricht University reported that campus Wi-Fi and VPN services were down. “At this time, there is no indication that this is a targeted hack,” the university stated. Tilburg University confirmed ongoing connectivity issues but said it remains unclear when the problems will be resolved.
Utrecht University also reported being impacted. “Yesterday afternoon, the situation seemed stable, and everything appeared to be functioning normally. However, as of this morning, slowness has been reported again, and similar problems may be experienced,” the university said.
Furthermore, last week, a similar incident occurred at the Technical University of Eindhoven, where classes were canceled due to a network outage.
On Tuesday, the DigiD system, a platform used to access government services, was targeted in a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. The assault, which overwhelmed the network with an exceptionally high volume of traffic, caused widespread disruptions to services such as MijnOverheid, the Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW), and the Centraal Justitieel Incassobureau.
Logius, the government agency managing DigiD, confirmed the attack and attributed the outage to the sheer scale of the traffic, which exceeded the system’s defenses.
Reporting by ANP and NL Times
