Report: MSU hackers release documents; school had refused to pay ransom

James David Dickson
The Detroit News

After Michigan State University refused to pay ransom to people who claim to have hacked its computer system, those hackers have allegedly published some of the documents they uncovered, the Lansing State Journal reported Thursday.

As the Journal reports: 

MSU suffered a ransomware attack on Memorial Day. A hacker raided Department of Physics and Astronomy servers and demanded an unspecified ransom with a countdown clock that suggested the information would be published if the bounty wasn't paid by Wednesday, the same day MSU officials announced they would not be paying the ransom.

Michigan State's website reports that the hack was limited to the one department, and that the school is "in the process of identifying the information that was compromised and will notify individuals who may be impacted by the intrusion as soon as they are identified."

Spokesman Dan Olsen offered no comment beyond sending the website link.

The MSU site does not say how much ransom was requested, but that it was "heeding the guidance of its law enforcement partners" by not paying it. 

Kelly Roudebush, chief of the MSU Police Department, said on the MSU site that "paying cyber-intrusion ransoms perpetuates these crimes and provides an opportunity for the group to live another day and prey upon another victim."

Michigan State Police and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.