A notorious hacker group has claimed responsibility for last year’s data breaches at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and published data it claims was stolen from both schools.
On Wednesday, the group is known as ShinyHunters published what it claimed were more than one million records from every university on the group’s dedicated leak site, which the gang used to extort victims.
In November, UPenn confirmed data breach from “a select group of information systems related to Penn’s alumni and development activities.” At that time, the hackers also sent alumni emails announcing the hack from official university address.
The university blamed the breach social engineeringattacks that often rely on hackers impersonating people and tricking them into doing things they wouldn’t normally do. In its official breach disclosure web pagethat has since been taken offline, UPenn did not say exactly what type of data the hackers stole, saying only that the cybercriminals accessed “systems related to Penn development and alumni activities.”
Contact Us
Do you have more information about this breach, or similar attacks? From a non-working device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb, or email.
TechCrunch verified parts of the data set by confirming with alumni and public records, such as matching data with student ID numbers.
Later in November, Harvard University also confirmed the breach of the alumni system, blaming the vote phishing attack, meaning an attack where a hacker tricks a target into clicking a link or opening an attachment with a voice call.
Harvard said that the data stolen included email addresses, phone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance, donation details to the university, and other biographical information related to the university’s fundraising activities and alumni engagement.
Techcrunch event
Boston, MA
|
June 23, 2026
Data published by ShinyHunters, reviewed by TechCrunch, appears to match the type of information stolen at both universities last year.
The hackers said they released the stolen data because the university refused to pay a ransom to prevent them from doing so. Cybercriminals like ShinyHunters often try to extort victims who demand payment in exchange for not publishing the stolen data, and if the victim refuses to pay, then they release the data online.
During the UPenn breach, the hackers made it appear as if they had a political motive, particularly that they were dissatisfied with the affirmative action policy. “We hire and admit morons because we love heritage, donors, and unqualified affirmative action,” wrote the hacker in an email sent to alumni.
ShinyHunters are not known to have political motives. The hackers did not respond to questions about why they included the language in the email.
Penn spokesman Ron Ozio told TechCrunch that the university is “analyzing the data and will notify anyone as required by applicable privacy regulations.”
Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.