Iowa community college hacked, forced to cancel class

A community college is now among the victims of the recent wave of cyber attacks on U.S. institutions and businesses.

The Des Moines Area Community College, in Iowa, was forced June 3 to cancel classes for at least four days after hackers shut down shutting parts of the school’s telephone and computer network system.

School officials were as a result forced to communicate with faculty and students through DMACC's official Facebook page, Twitter and account a barebones-version of its website, according to Vice.

The school has also asked student and others to avoid using Microsoft Office 365 and the learning platform, Blackboard.

It is unclear whether the hacking was a ransomware attack or which group was responsible for it, following such attacks in recent weeks on major U.S. oil suppler Colonial Pipeline and major meet suppler JBS.

Last year, hackers got into a federal government software system, by SolarWinds, that gave them access to information from number federal agencies.

The president of DMACC, Rob Denson, said in a message that the school's IT department is working with "outside cyber experts" to fix the issue and "determine what, if any, data was compromised."

Denson also said the FBI has joined in the investigation.