Resolved after 3 hours 58 minutes, affecting Alaska.edu Frontends and UAF.edu Frontends, on September 21, 2026.
University Website and VPN External Accessibility Problem Impact Analysis Event Occurrence: 20260921 # Background University of Alaska provides Virtual Private Network \(VPN\) connectivity for university affiliated users located remotely and needing access to university network resources. Additionally the university hosts public facing websites intended to be accessed globaly. These services, as well as others, are dependent upon connectivity between the university network and the wider internet, provided by our commodity internet service provider, Alaska Communications Systems \(ACS\). # Break Down of the Problem On 09/21/2026 at approximately 3:30pm, remote users outside of the university network reported issues loading university websites, and additionally reported interruption in connectivity to the university VPN. Technicians onsite reported that both VPN and web resources were accessible from within the university network. The OIT Telecommunications Services investigated and found that websites and VPN connectivity were working from within the university network, and that our network peering with ACS appeared to be up and recieving/advertising routes normally. An OIT technician from another workgroup on remote work and experiencing the connectivity issue reported that a traceroute from their home location to multiple university resources failed within the university's commodity internet service provider, Alaska Communications Systems \(ACS\) network prior to reaching the university network. OIT Telecommunications services at approximately 4:30pm received email communication from ACS confirming a network event within their network, followed by a subsequent email just prior to 5:30pm that the network event was resolved and services were stabilized. # Target State / Goal University of Alaska network connectivity to the internet at large should remain online at all times, providing remote access to UA network resources such as websites and VPN connectivity. # Root Cause Analysis This was determined to be caused by an event outside of the university network, within the commodity internet service provider \(ACS\) network, with ACS reporting upon resolution "_The network event impacting services has stabilized, and service restoration is complete._" While no point-to-point WAN circuits or commodity internet peerings were _directly_ affected, some network traffic transiting the ACS network via those commodity internet peerings was impacted during the provider event. # Develop Countermeasures Commodity internet service provider \(ACS\) resolved internal network event. # Implementation of Countermeasures OIT Telecommunications Services will reach out to service providers in the future as we become aware of potential issues impacting commodity internet connectivity. # Follow Up / Review ACS Provided email confirmation of internal network event resolution.
Affected components
Update timeline
- investigating Sep 21, 2026, 04:34 PM UTC
We have received reports that alaska.edu and uaf.edu websites are currently experiencing issues. The OIT Platforms, Apps & Web Services (PAWS) team is currently investigating, and we will be making updates at 3-hour intervals. A current workaround is using a different browser than usual; Google Chrome has had high rates of success. Thank you for your patience during the resolution of this issue!
- identified Sep 21, 2026, 08:04 PM UTC
Alaska.edu and uaf.edu websites are currently experiencing issues. The OIT Platforms, Apps & Web Services (PAWS) team is working with Security and they have identified the issue. The certificate should be updated within the hour and status updated as soon as it's resolved. A current workaround is using a different browser than usual; Google Chrome has had high rates of success. Thank you for your patience during the resolution of this issue!
- resolved Sep 21, 2026, 08:32 PM UTC
PAWS has resolved the issue with the alaska.edu and uaf.edu sites, and confirmed the fix to be stable. Please report any continued issues with this service to your campus's IT helpdesk, and thank you again for your patience during the resolution of this issue!
- postmortem Oct 07, 2026, 04:54 PM UTC
University Website and VPN External Accessibility Problem Impact Analysis Event Occurrence: 20260921 # Background University of Alaska provides Virtual Private Network \(VPN\) connectivity for university affiliated users located remotely and needing access to university network resources. Additionally the university hosts public facing websites intended to be accessed globaly. These services, as well as others, are dependent upon connectivity between the university network and the wider internet, provided by our commodity internet service provider, Alaska Communications Systems \(ACS\). # Break Down of the Problem On 09/21/2026 at approximately 3:30pm, remote users outside of the university network reported issues loading university websites, and additionally reported interruption in connectivity to the university VPN. Technicians onsite reported that both VPN and web resources were accessible from within the university network. The OIT Telecommunications Services investigated and found that websites and VPN connectivity were working from within the university network, and that our network peering with ACS appeared to be up and recieving/advertising routes normally. An OIT technician from another workgroup on remote work and experiencing the connectivity issue reported that a traceroute from their home location to multiple university resources failed within the university's commodity internet service provider, Alaska Communications Systems \(ACS\) network prior to reaching the university network. OIT Telecommunications services at approximately 4:30pm received email communication from ACS confirming a network event within their network, followed by a subsequent email just prior to 5:30pm that the network event was resolved and services were stabilized. # Target State / Goal University of Alaska network connectivity to the internet at large should remain online at all times, providing remote access to UA network resources such as websites and VPN connectivity. # Root Cause Analysis This was determined to be caused by an event outside of the university network, within the commodity internet service provider \(ACS\) network, with ACS reporting upon resolution "_The network event impacting services has stabilized, and service restoration is complete._" While no point-to-point WAN circuits or commodity internet peerings were _directly_ affected, some network traffic transiting the ACS network via those commodity internet peerings was impacted during the provider event. # Develop Countermeasures Commodity internet service provider \(ACS\) resolved internal network event. # Implementation of Countermeasures OIT Telecommunications Services will reach out to service providers in the future as we become aware of potential issues impacting commodity internet connectivity. # Follow Up / Review ACS Provided email confirmation of internal network event resolution.
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