ADA, Okla. (KTEN) — Investigations are continuing at East Central University after the college was the victim of a cyberattack in mid-February.

School officials said the cyberattack was an attempt to steal data and encrypt school computers; however, critical services weren't taken down, and only select campus technology was infiltrated.

"We notified our employees immediately that day to let them know what was going on," said ECU vice president for institutional advancement Amy Ford. "Then we contacted a third-party expert. We do not know how they got in exactly yet; the investigation is still ongoing."

Officials said it's not known how hackers were able to attack ECU networks, but there was a rise in spam and malicious emails in the days leading up to the February event.

"Early morning, our IT department started getting pings about activity that was abnormal," Ford explained. "By that afternoon, we had a third party on campus. The thing at the top of their mind was to make sure these criminals were not in our staff."

As a precaution, the university recommends that students visit IdentityTheft.gov if they suspect that personal information was compromised. ECU has established a website page to answer questions about the incident.