Investigation Launched Into CAO Website Attack

Business & Finance - Technology

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 14:25

Written by Katrina Doyle

The Central Applications Office (CAO) has confirmed it plans to launch a full investigation into yesterday’s cyber attack on its website, www.cao.ie.

Thousands of Leaving Certificate students were inconvenienced by the attach which resulted in the website being offline for a number of hours. 

However,  the CAO says more than 23,000 online acceptances were recorded by the end of day (5.15pm) despite the problems with the website’s availability.  Last year, 22,000 acceptances were made by the end of the first day with, over 95% of total acceptances made online.

According to Mr Joseph O’Grady, Operations Manager of the Central Applications Office (CAO), “Access to the CAO website was affected because of a malicious attack from an unknown source on Monday 23 August.  The website was available intermittently between 6.10 am and 1 pm, when the problem was resolved by CAO technical staff.  The system is being monitored 24 hours a day to ensure continuity of online services.

“We would like to thank students and parents for their patience.  People concerned about accepting an offer online can log in to the ’my application’ section of the CAO website to confirm their acceptance has been recorded. Acceptances can be also be made by post. There is plenty of time for applicants to accept their offer as the deadline for acceptances is Monday 30th August at 5.15pm.  Offers should be accepted either online or by post, not both.

“Our priority is to process offers and acceptances on behalf of students and the Higher Education Institutes (HEIs).  We plan to conduct a full investigation into this attack in due course,” he said.