After a cyberattack on May 3, classes officially resumed on Tuesday, May 14 in the three Cégep de Lanaudière establishments, including L’Assomption where I teach and where my daughter is a student. I will therefore have gone through the week of suspension of classes as a teacher, but also like all the parents of nearly 7,000 students in the region.
Back in the office, I saw how hard the staff members work to accommodate the students. Everyone plays their role to reassure them and ensure that they can take up the summer jobs that await them at this time when inflation and the housing crisis are making life difficult for them. Not to mention that some students are registered for summer courses which will begin shortly.
I have no doubt about the collaboration between our management and the teams from the Ministry of Higher Education to bring all activities back to normal. What concerns me, however, is that the three Lanaudière CEGEPs are not the first to suffer a cyberattack. The Cégep de St-Félicien (in 2020) and the Collège Montmorency (in 2022) have been there before us.
In 2020, the Royal Military College in Kingston was the victim of a similar attack and Radio-Canada headlined, on April 2, just after the cyberattack on the University of Winnipeg: “Canadian universities, not sufficiently equipped against potential cyberattacks.
Ahuntsic College, victim in turn!
While the three CEGEPs in Lanaudière have not fully recovered, I learned with amazement that Collège Ahuntsic was in turn targeted! Dark news. Will we soon realize the full extent of the risks associated with the all-Internet in our educational institutions?
At Montmorency, tens of thousands of files containing confidential information left many students and employees with the impression of having been insufficiently informed about the leak of their data.
My intention here, far from launching a fear campaign, is to remind the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, that we must not underestimate the stress experienced by the affected students. At L’Assomption, assessment retakes are increasing and, despite our efforts, the end of the students’ session is disrupted.
Furthermore, my purpose, involving only myself as a professor, is to invite reflection. In higher education, the trend is towards expanding the role of digital technology. Rapid changes, in terms of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) for example, will not spare us a serious in-depth debate. Clearly, our vulnerability is increasing in the face of digital systems and services that are becoming more and more expensive. This is not without consequences.
Exactly how much will it cost to manage the cyberattacks in Lanaudière and Ahuntsic?
I am not the only one to worry about the growing influence of digital technologies in education, and to prefer a school on a human scale to an excessively computerized school which prevents us from simply giving our lessons like generations of teachers. who preceded us. Two philosophy colleagues, Eric Martin and Sébastien Mussi, published Welcome to the machine. Teaching in the digital age (Écosociété, 2023), a remarkable essay on the question. They believe that it will not be enough for teachers to train and adapt. Their proposal, inspired by recent mobilizations in Switzerland: a moratorium on the computerization of schools.
On these issues, throughout the duration of the suspension of classes at L’Assomption, Joliette and Terrebonne, I waited in vain for a word from Minister Déry.
Today I’m hoping for a game plan!