Columbia University

A cyberattack in June on Columbia University allowed hackers to access the sensitive personal information of more than 860,000 people. The breach exposed Social Security numbers, college application data, academic history, financial aid information, health insurance details, and more. The incident disrupted IT systems, causing outages and preventing students from accessing emails and assignment platforms. The hackers, identified as politically motivated, targeted student data to further their agenda. The stolen data was shared with major news outlets, leading to controversial reports. The university offered affected individuals two years of free credit monitoring services.

Source: https://therecord.media/columbia-university-data-breach-cyberattack-notifications

TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/columbiamed

"id": "col411080825",
"linkid": "columbiamed",
"type": "Cyber Attack",
"date": "8/2025",
"severity": "100",
"impact": "5",
"explanation": "Attack threatening the organization's existence"

{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': '868,969',
                        'industry': 'Education',
                        'location': 'New York, USA',
                        'name': 'Columbia University',
                        'type': 'Educational Institution'}],
 'customer_advisories': 'Offering two years of free credit monitoring services',
 'data_breach': {'data_exfiltration': 'Yes',
                 'number_of_records_exposed': '868,969',
                 'personally_identifiable_information': 'Yes',
                 'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
                 'type_of_data_compromised': 'Personal Information'},
 'date_detected': '2023-06-24',
 'description': 'A cyberattack in June on Columbia University allowed hackers '
                'to access the sensitive personal information of more than '
                '860,000 people.',
 'impact': {'brand_reputation_impact': 'Negative due to data breach and '
                                       'defaced digital signs',
            'data_compromised': 'Social Security numbers, contact details, '
                                'demographic information, academic history, '
                                'financial aid information, health insurance '
                                'information',
            'identity_theft_risk': 'High',
            'operational_impact': 'Widespread issues for students, inability '
                                  'to access email and assignment platforms',
            'systems_affected': 'IT systems, email accounts, assignment '
                                'platforms, digital signs'},
 'initial_access_broker': {'high_value_targets': 'Student data'},
 'investigation_status': 'Ongoing',
 'motivation': 'To prove schools are not abiding by the Supreme Court decision '
               'in 2023 striking down affirmative action',
 'ransomware': {'data_exfiltration': 'Yes'},
 'regulatory_compliance': {'regulatory_notifications': 'Filed breach '
                                                       'notification documents '
                                                       'with regulators in '
                                                       'Maine and California'},
 'response': {'incident_response_plan_activated': 'Yes',
              'recovery_measures': 'Offering two years of free credit '
                                   'monitoring services'},
 'threat_actor': 'Hacktivist with a political agenda',
 'title': 'Columbia University Cyberattack',
 'type': 'Data Breach'}