This is an updated image of Vice Society claiming Okanagan College is their cyberattack victim.

Image Credit: Submitted

A criminal organization that hacks into education and other institutions to steal sensitive data then hold it for ransom has carried out its threat and posted data stolen from Okanagan College on the dark web.

The ransomware group Vice Society followed through on its threat releasing a GIF on its website yesterday, Jan. 30.

It has two screenshots in it. One shows numerous pages of documents that are too blurry to read. The other has what appears to be photo ID and/or passports of nine people, again, too blurry to read with any accuracy.

“I’ve not accessed the data as I’ve no need/reason to further invade people’s privacy,” Brett Callow, a threat analyst with international cybersecurity firm Emsisof, told iNFOnews.ca in an email. “Unfortunately, the data will likely now have been accessed by other cybercriminals.”

He pointed to a case last week when the FBI seized the website of another ransomware group called Hive after it hacked Norman Public Schools in Oklahoma in November.

“Today, somebody shared 70,000 Social Security Numbers allegedly from Norman Public Schools on a hacker forum,” Callow said.

The Okanagan College cyberattack happened on Jan. 9, the first day of classes for the winter semester. That knocked out phone systems, email and computer networks for more than a week.

READ MORE: Okanagan College crippled by cyberattack

The original Vice Society posting about the Okanagan College hack came about two weeks later. At that time it didn't name the college but showed a blurred photo of the college.

The new posting includes an Okanagan College logo and a description of the college as the second largest trade school in B.C. with more than 8,500 full-time students and approximately 1,000 international students from more than 40 countries.

READ MORE: Cyber criminals may be holding stolen Okanagan College data for ransom

“These past few weeks have been difficult for many people across Okanagan College,” college president Neil Fassina posted on its website yesterday, Jan. 30.

“Unfortunately, no organization can be entirely immune to this type of unlawful activity," Fassina said. "There is still work ahead of us and over the coming several weeks we will be working with experts to determine as best possible what information was impacted. Should our ongoing investigation determine that further notifications are necessary, we will proceed with that step accordingly.”

Okanagan College has refused to make Fassina or any other staff available for an interview with iNFOnews.ca.

The college has provided students with access to credit monitoring and identity theft prevention services.

The college's updates on the hack can be found here.

 - This article was updated at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2023 to take data out of the image of the Vice Society site.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2023