Washington State University is one of many schools that have experienced cyber attacks over the summer, according to a campus-wide email sent from Interim President Dan Bernardo.

WSU Information Technology officials will enact a new policy to strengthen network security starting today.

On July 8, federal investigators confirmed that WSU systems had been illegally accessed by outside attackers.

No sensitive information was exposed, but action has been planned to prevent further attacks.

Previously, faculty and staff have been able to communicate with students via personal emails stored in the server. Those preferred emails – ending in @wsu.edu – and all official school business must be conducted using these addresses.

Designed to disrupt any invasion for private information, the initial phases of the security change have caused some disruptions in online services such as my.WSU.

“An important part of the initial plan entails strengthening passwords,” said Bernardo in the campus-wide email.

Reporting by Shane Michard