NWO hacked, grant process frozen
The NWO announced the hack in a press release. Because of the hack, grant applications that go through NWO and coordinating bodies SIA and NRO will be tied up for an undetermined time. The organisation doesn’t know how long this will last.
‘Any rounds with an upcoming deadline will be postponed, and the review of calls for which the deadline has already passed will be cancelled’, the NWO writes. The organisation will assess how they can get back to the grant process over the next few weeks.
Cause
The NWO does not state who’s behind the hack. They do write that they’re investigating the matter and ‘that they’re doing everything they can to remedy the problem’.
The hack also means that the email addresses at NWO, SIA, and NRO are currently unavailable.
Grant applications
The ISAAC application, which is used to process grant applications, is also not in use at the time. While the organisation says the application is housed on an external server and therefore doesn’t appear to be affected by the hack, they want to make sure that using it won’t infect other systems.
It’s unclear how many applications will be delayed because of the hack. ‘It’s worrisome’, says UG spokesperson Riepko Buikema. ‘We’re still figuring out what exactly this means for us.’