University of Michigan internet outage now under investigation, president confirms

Frank Witsil and Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press
Updated ·6 min read
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The University of Michigan continued to scramble Tuesday to restore internet services at its Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses, but officials are now saying the outage is under investigation and could take "several days" to fix.

The disruption, in its third day, directly affects nearly 120,000 people at all three campuses, including about 65,000 students and 54,000 faculty and staff, and indirectly affects even more people as U-M seeks to solve the problem.

Students are finding the outage jarring and frustrating.

"I can’t check classes, assignments," Deborah Sonoiki, a freshman from Lagos, Nigeria, said Tuesday at the Ann Arbor campus. But she added, representing how students are still trying to make the best of it: "We’ll get through it."

Deborah Sonoiki, 17, of Lagos, Nigeria (center) asks for directions at the information station on the Diag at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Information stations are strategically placed around the campus to help direct students to classes and other resources after the internet went down on the University of Michigan campus. The Information Assurance team at the university shut down the internet at all the campuses on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:45 p.m. after a significant security concern was found.

For many, the internet outage also is a reminder how reliant society has become on technology, how vulnerable it can be to losing it, and how, especially for those who went to college before the internet, 24/7 digital connectivity dominates college life.

U-M has been guarded about what caused the outage.

Just before noon, U-M's president, Santa Ono, said in a letter addressed to the "university community" that the disruption was "an unfortunate cloud over an otherwise sunny and glorious start to the academic year" and confirmed federal law enforcement are involved.

"While we will continue to share as much information as possible as this work progresses, we are not able to share any information that might compromise the investigation," Ono said. "I appreciate your understanding as we move through the investigative process."

The FBI told the Free Press it is aware of the internet outage and prepared to provide assistance.

Cybersecurity concerns grow

On the first day of the new semester, tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff and administrators struggled to access their university accounts, class schedules, email, and, even send selfies to their parents, eager to share the photos and Wolverine pride on Facebook.

Tuesday, students continued to try to find their way, as if in the dark.

Educational institutions, along with governments and businesses, are increasingly a target of cyberattacks. And, in a twist, U-M is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as having one of the best undergraduate cybersecurity programs in the nation.

Information stations are strategically placed around the campus to help direct students to classes and other resources after the internet went down on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. The Information Assurance team at the university shut down the internet at all the campuses on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:45 p.m. after a significant security concern was found.

In January, University of Michigan Health experienced problems with its public websites as a result of a cyberattack on a vendor, according to a statement from the hospital system. U-M Health said it was working with the third party to mitigate the issues.

Last month, the State News reported, Michigan State students got an email from the administration informing them of a violation which may have led to unauthorized access of personal info. Michigan State's systems weren’t breached, but two companies the university shares student and employee data with were.

Moreover, a study reported in 2022 by a British-based security software company, Sophos, found educational institutions were increasingly under threat, with a growing financial and operational burden. There was a jump in attacks: 66% of respondents reported being hit, up from 37% the year before.

When asked Tuesday for more information about the cause of the disruption, U-M public affairs officials pointed to its statements. The Free Press also left messages seeking more information about the outages with several members of the university's Board of Regents.

Internet access cut off

U-M's internet trouble, which the university acknowledged in a short announcement at about 1:45 p.m. Sunday, began with limited and no access to multiple services including email; Google; Canvas, a content management system; and Wolverine Access, the school’s digital gateway.

Information stations are strategically placed around the campus to help direct students to classes and other resources after the internet went down on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. The Information Assurance team at the university shut down the internet at all the campuses on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:45 p.m. after a significant security concern was found.

"Due to a technology issue internet connectivity will be intermittent or unavailable," the university said, in one of its first descriptions of the disruption. "Service will be restored as quickly as possible. Please monitor @umichtech for updates on the outage."

For the first two days of class in Ann Arbor, students found other ways to share class schedules and essential first-day information. There were taped-up hand-written signs in public places and information stations where students could get assistance face-to-face.

"We’ve become their internet," one of people giving directions —David Muusz, of Saline — said.

Roger Fisher, 56, of Superior Twp, left, and David Muusz, 42, of Saline, both from Student Life, help direct students to where their classes are after the wireless internet went down on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. "Without the internet, we became the internet," says Muusz. The Information Assurance team at the university shut down the internet at all the campuses on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:45 p.m. after a significant security concern was found.

Freshman Ben Rosenfield, of Birmingham, told the Free Press he went to three buildings looking for his Russian class and more than 100 students showed up for a chemistry lab lecture before a student announced the class was canceled "and everyone left."

The situation, he added, "honestly sucks!"

More: University of Michigan campuses without internet on 1st day of class

By 10 p.m. Monday, the university posted an update: "We are making progress." But U-M also seemed to suggest that there wouldn’t be enough progress to resolve the issue by the next morning. "The next update will be posted by midnight."

At 11:59 p.m., the university urged students, particularly at the Ann Arbor campus, the largest, by far, of the three, "to check public course schedules & locations" and said the next update would be coming at 9 a.m. the next morning.

Authorities are involved

Monday morning, the university apologized "for the ongoing disruption."

It also began to suggest that the problem was more serious and the "difficult decision was made to separate the U-M network from the internet to help mitigate technical issues," and in a later update, indicated that the problem might last awhile.

Among the clues, the university changed the update heading it had been using, "Temporary Internet Outage," to "Campus IT Outage." And while there was no definitive timeline for internet restoration, the university said it could be "several days" before the problem was fixed.

Leopold Hoang, 18, of Houston, stops for directions at an information station on the Diag after the internet went down on Sunday at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Hoang says he hasn't even been able to get his syllabi yet and that it's been "a shaky start to his freshman year." Hoang is concerned that his work will pile up without access to the internet and he won't be able to finish his assignments in time.

Still, while wired and wireless internet access was still down, there was a glimmer of hope: Cloud services to Google, Canvas, Zoom, Adobe Cloud, Dropbox, Slack and other services were back online and "reachable when using off-campus and cellular networks."

The update also said classes would still meet and the campus was still open, including dorms, dining halls, and all university offices. The university also said professors and instructors would do their best to communicate with students.

U-M has promised there would be no late registration or disenrollment fees through Thursday, and that "consideration will be given" to students missing classes and assignments.

And near the end of the update, the university added a line that it did not explain, suggesting that more could be behind the outage: "The U-M Division of Public Safety and Security and federal law enforcement partners have been informed and are involved."

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Is U-M under cyberattack? President confirms probe