The Incident Response Team (IRT) provides coverage 7 days a week, 365 days a year to respond to reported breaches of security. We encourage anyone who is aware of a potential security breach affecting Boston University accounts, computers, or networks to report all available information to the IT Help Center or call our hotline at 617-358-1100.

Since quick response is essential in limiting the damage caused by a security incident, we encourage all our clients to report information to us that may help identify breaches in our security as soon as possible.

When Contacting the Incident Response Team:

You may contact us one of two ways:

Please be aware that Boston University has over 20,000 computer systems operating on its network at any time. In order to process your complaint we need as much detail as possible. At a minimum, we need you to provide us with:

  • Your contact information, email and/or phone number so we can follow up if we need more information
  • The hostname, IP address, or MAC (hardware) address of the BU system involved in the incident
  • The time the incident occurred, including your timezone. Boston University is in the US/Eastern timezone

When reporting an incident online or through the hotline, please be sure to leave names and phone numbers of people who we can contact to obtain access to the system.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not handle the physical theft of computing resources.  Thefts of computer equipment from the Boston University campus, or university-owned computer equipment stolen from any location should be reported to the Boston University Police Department.  Owners of laptops are encourage to register their laptops in advance through the Police Department’s STOP initiative.

To  learn more about a reporting and cybersecurity incidents, check out the links below: