University of Michigan reconnects to internet, Wi-Fi as online systems gradually restored

All three University of Michigan campuses were reconnected to Wi-Fi and the internet Wednesday, and the systems are "expected to become fully operational gradually over the next few days," the university said in emails.

The university warned, however, that "not all of our remediation efforts are complete" and there still may be "slower service and disruptions over the next few hours or days," and it could take hours for data to sync in some systems.

Complete or not, it was welcome news for many.

The disruption, in its fourth day, has affected nearly 120,000 people at all three campuses, including about 65,000 students and 54,000 faculty and staff, at the university’s Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses and university and federal authorities are investigating who is responsible.

One regent, after a briefing Tuesday, said was a targeted cyberattack.

U-M did not disclose details of who was behind it and their motivation has not been disclosed.

More: There may be reason why University of Michigan isn't disclosing details of internet attack

Students on their first two days of classes said the outage was jarring and frustrating, as they struggled to find their schedules and classes, and look up their assignments. It also was among the last things, some said, would have expected.

What's more, the outage cast what U-M President Santa Ono called an unfortunate cloud over what U.S. News and World Report has ranked as a top university in the nation with one of the best undergraduate cybersecurity programs.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: University of Michigan reconnects to internet, Wi-Fi after outage