University president addresses cyber security incident
The first topic tackled by University of Windsor President Dr. Robert Gordon was the cyber security incident that occurred last year.
“It’s just the new reality that all universities and colleges are dealing with,” said Gordon, who explained during his State of the University Address things could been worse had it not been for the help of the community.
“The day of the breach I had an opportunity to reach out to Dr. Patti France [president of St. Clair College], our Mayor Drew Dilkens, David Musyj [CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital] and others in our community and ask for support and we got it right away,” he said.
The outage took down the main website, Blackboard Learning Management System, UWinsite Student and the campus Wi-Fi affecting the university for two weeks. Students and staff were left frustrated wondering when they would regain access to their school's online tools.
The university on Thursday said it has learned lessons which have been shared with others.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure our systems are safe and robust enough to deal with the emerging challenges that many organizations are facing,” said Gordon.
The university is also ensuring it is ready to supply talent to meet the future growth of the region.
“I think there's a number of potential programs that we are in a position to support that will be able to I think build the economic prosperity of our region,” he said.
The university contributed to the region’s recognition this week by Business Facilities Magazine for landing the EV plant. Invest Windsor Essex President and CEO Stephen MacKenzie said he is in constant contact with the university.
“Incredibly important role. You noticed an increased co-op placements, increased grants. That's all meaning that it's working together,” he said.
MacKenzie added there is a contingent from the university and college visiting an existing battery plant in Poland to tighten the connection between the school and companies.
MacKenzie values the partnerships, which includes the university, because they were vital in landing the EV plant and will continue to be vital during the current recruitment of supply chain businesses.
“It's a living, breathing organism this amazing place we call Windsor-Essex and I think the growth of new companies and hopefully the growth in business for existing companies is [going to] be phenomenal over the next couple of years,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.