Rutgers University's computer network under attack; website, Internet access down on campus

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (WABC) -- Rutgers University said Monday its computer network was taken down by a cyber attack, affecting its Internet access on campus and even its main website.

The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) started Monday morning. A DDoS is when a network of computers target a single system and prevent it from operating normally.

Rutgers initially released this statement:

"We are currently experiencing a network outage affecting Internet and wifi - we will inform you as soon as we have more information."

But the school later said it was a network event:

Students took no time to post on social media out the outage:

This is at least the fifth attack on Rutgers University's network in the last year. In May and in August, similar attacks made the network inaccessible.

After the August attack, the school said it hired three security firms to look into its internal networks. Rutgers said it expected to spend as much as $3 million on cyber security this year.

Stay with abc7NY for the latest on this developing story.