Western Oregon University describes ransomware mutual aid for local schools, seeks regional data center and emergency operations space

Western Oregon University officials told the Joint Committee on Information Management and Technology on May 30 that the university provided rapid mutual aid to Central School District after a February 2024 ransomware attack and is proposing a new data center with colocation and an emergency operations center for the Polk County region.

The request matters because the university said the incident exposed how fragile local computer infrastructure can be and illustrated the potential regional benefit of a purpose-built facility that could shelter public agency operations during cyber or physical emergencies.

Evan Source, secretary to the Western Oregon University board of trustees and special assistant to the president, said the district reported it had been locked out of critical systems and network resources. "They were able to go old fashioned analog teaching, after just…