The article discusses a number of problems manifested  during the sudden forced transition of educational institutions to the use \pagebreak of exclusively distance learning technologies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the specifics of these problems for the  areas of higher education related to the use of information technologies. A feature  of these fields is the preparedness of teachers and students to use modern information technologies, as well as the high motivation of students. Under the conditions of force majeure, when the necessary stage of designing distance learning and  filling it with content was forcibly skipped, both general and specific problems in organizing the educational process arose. The article analyzes the results of surveys of teachers and students conducted by the authors, which made it possible to list these problems and identify their economic and organizational reasons.