Outage in Open University
Learning Systems Unavailable
Resolved Major
October 21, 2026 - Started 1 day ago
- Lasted about 4 hours
Incident Report
Earlier today, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued advice to UK organisations warning of a worldwide critical security issue (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/critical-security-issue-affecting-php). Upon receiving the alert, The Open University (the OU) has taken the preventative measure to take several of our learning systems offline to safeguard students and staff from this identified threat. Learning systems include all module websites, online tutorials, the HelpCentre, OpenLearn and OpenlearnCreate.
Unfortunately, this means staff and students are not currently able to access our learning systems and any tutorials that were due to take place this evening (Wednesday 21 October 2026) will be rescheduled.
We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused but we must act decisively in these situations to protect students and staff and OU systems.
Like other organisations, we must wait for third-party security fixes to be put in place before we can restore our learning systems. Staff will be working throughout the night to try and restore our learning systems and we will update further at 8am (Thursday 22 October 2026) .
Unfortunately, this means staff and students are not currently able to access our learning systems and any tutorials that were due to take place this evening (Wednesday 21 October 2026) will be rescheduled.
We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused but we must act decisively in these situations to protect students and staff and OU systems.
Like other organisations, we must wait for third-party security fixes to be put in place before we can restore our learning systems. Staff will be working throughout the night to try and restore our learning systems and we will update further at 8am (Thursday 22 October 2026) .
Components affected
Open University Major Incident Open University Module websites Open University Other servicesLatest Updates ( sorted recent to last )
1 day ago - at 10/21/2026 03:22PM
Earlier today, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued advice to UK organisations warning of a worldwide critical security issue (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/critical-security-issue-affecting-php). Upon receiving the alert, The Open University (the OU) has taken the preventative measure to take several of our learning systems offline to safeguard students and staff from this identified threat. Learning systems include all module websites, online tutorials, the HelpCentre, OpenLearn and OpenlearnCreate.
Unfortunately, this means staff and students are not currently able to access our learning systems and any tutorials that were due to take place this evening (Wednesday 21 October 2026) will be rescheduled.
We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused but we must act decisively in these situations to protect students and staff and OU systems.
Like other organisations, we must wait for third-party security fixes to be put in place before we can restore our learning systems. Staff will be working throughout the night to try and restore our learning systems and we will update further at 8am (Thursday 22 October 2026) .
Latest Open University outages
Help Centre Unavailable - about 23 hours ago
OpenLearn & OpenLearn Create Unavailable - about 23 hours ago
OUSBA Portal Unavailable - 7 days ago
Issues with CIRCE Weblets - 15 days ago
VOICE Access Problems - about 2 months ago
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