The MCS was offline for over three hoursPixabay

The University of Cambridge’s Information Service was forced to temporarily shut down its Managed Cluster Service (MCS) on Friday to perform emergency security updates, in the wake of a global ransomware attack.

At 6:30pm on Friday evening, the University’s IT department announced via Twitter that its Desktop Services were unavailable due to an “emergency cyber security update”. After the update had been completed, the service failed to restart properly, meaning that it was not running again until 9:45pm.

Several colleges, including Homerton and Fitzwilliam, emailed students to inform them of the cyber attack and provide cyber security advice.

In email sent to members of the college on Saturday, the IT Department of Pembroke College informed students that some systems including the MCS were “temporarily shut down” on Friday “as a precaution”. The email continued, “So far we are unaware of any penetration of our defences”.

The email also urged students to exercise “extreme caution” if they received an email with an attachment from an unknown sender, until potential gaps in the University’s cyber security systems could be identified.

An email sent by the IT Department of Fitzwilliam College informed students that the shared MCS computers in the college’s library would be temporarily unavailable, and asked students to monitor the University Information Service website and Twitter feed for updates. Homerton students were urged to back up their files regularly and to install virus protection software.

The emails follow reports of a global ransomware attack on Friday said to have affected 100 countries, including computers used by 48 NHS trusts.  After taking over a computer, the software demands a payment of $300 (£233) in the virtual currency Bitcoin before a user is able to regain access to the computer’s files.

Earlier this year, the University Information Service launched a “major programme to increase and improve cyber security levels across our networks”, including the introduction of a new firewall service and an intrusion detection and prevention system, to help “ensure the University protects itself against cyber threats”.

Speaking to Varsity,  a University spokesperson said that “no University of Cambridge website has been reported to have been affected by Friday’s ransomware attack.” They added, “The University will continue to monitor developments closely.”