STUDENTS and academics at Essex University have been hit by a cyber attack.

A distributed denial of service [Ddos] attack was launched against the Janet network.

Janet is a high speed network for UK research and education used by universities across the country.

It allows those off campus to access information.

The attack began on Friday with some online facilities affected at Essex University since Monday.

A service alert was issued by Essex University yesterday.

A spokesman said: “We’ve been experiencing problems with internet access and the impact has varied from user to user.

Janet engineers are dealing with the issue at a national level and we are hoping this will be resolved as quickly as possible.”

It is understood internet services on and off campus have been affected.

The service is run by Jisc, formerly the joint information systems committee.

Attacks began on Friday with engineers able to block some attacks but more have followed.

It is not clear if the cyber attackers are motivated by revenge, money, activism or simply a desire to interrupt.

A Ddos attack is intended to bring down and disrupt services to thousands of people.

It is understood the impact at Essex University has been limited to a denial of services rather than any accessing of information.