--- title: Harvard University data breach exposed info of 851,000... description: A November 2025 breach of Harvard University's Alumni Affairs and Development systems exposed data tied to 851,000 unique email addresses. Have I Been Pwned... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/harvard-university-data-breach-exposed-info-of-851-000-accounts-ktfhd2ale twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Harvard University data breach exposed info of 851,000 accounts | daily.dev og:description: A November 2025 breach of Harvard University's Alumni Affairs and Development systems exposed data tied to 851,000 unique email addresses. Have I Been Pwned... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/harvard-university-data-breach-exposed-info-of-851-000-accounts-ktfhd2ale og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ktFHd2aLE.png og:image:alt: Harvard University data breach exposed info of 851,000 accounts og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Harvard University data breach exposed info of 851,000 accounts **[BleepingComputer](https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A November 2025 breach of Harvard University's Alumni Affairs and Development systems exposed data tied to 851,000 unique email addresses. Have I Been Pwned confirmed the breach exposed the data of 850,500 accounts, including names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, physical addresses, and social media profiles. The ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed responsibility, saying it stole over 1 million records, and leaked a 1.1GB archive after Harvard refused to pay a ransom. Harvard's CIO Klara Jelinkova said the breached systems didn't store Social Security numbers, passwords, or payment card information. Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania disclosed similar donor data breaches around the same time. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How many accounts were exposed in the Harvard University data breach? The breach exposed data linked to 850,500 accounts, according to Have I Been Pwned's analysis of the leaked data. The compromised information included 851,000 unique email addresses tied to Harvard's alumni and fundraising systems, along with names, dates of birth, phone numbers, physical addresses, and social media profiles for donors, alumni, parents, and some faculty, staff, and students. _Security teams tracking breach scope and affected-user counts can follow incident updates like this on daily.dev._ ### Who is behind the Harvard University data breach and what data did they steal? The ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed responsibility, saying it stole over 1 million records containing identifiable information and donation data. The attackers breached Harvard's Alumni Affairs and Development systems in November 2025, and after Harvard refused to pay a ransom, the group leaked a 1.1GB archive of stolen documents on its dark web leak site in early February. _Developers evaluating extortion group tactics and leak-site behavior can monitor cases like this on daily.dev._ ### Did the Harvard data breach expose Social Security numbers or financial information? No, Harvard's Vice President and Chief Information Officer Klara Jelinkova said the breached IT systems didn't store Social Security numbers, passwords, payment card information, or financial information. The exposed data instead included email addresses, phone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance records, and donation and biographical details tied to fundraising and alumni engagement. _Anyone assessing the real blast radius of a breach disclosure can compare notes on incidents like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Hackers publish personal information stolen during Harvard, UPenn data breaches](https://daily.dev/posts/hackers-publish-personal-information-stolen-during-harvard-upenn-data-breaches-dnqnegp8i) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Nottingham University data breach affects over 450,000 students](https://daily.dev/posts/nottingham-university-data-breach-affects-over-450-000-students-qzdcmfziy) · BleepingComputer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Sydney Uni data goes walkabout after code repo raided](https://daily.dev/posts/sydney-uni-data-goes-walkabout-after-code-repo-raided-c1cpwwa8j) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Data breach at edtech giant McGraw Hill affects 13.5 million accounts](https://daily.dev/posts/data-breach-at-edtech-giant-mcgraw-hill-affects-13-5-million-accounts-s5nmhalny) · BleepingComputer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#data-breach](https://daily.dev/tags/data-breach) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/harvard-university-data-breach-exposed-info-of-851-000-accounts-ktfhd2ale) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Harvard University data breach exposed info of 851,000 accounts","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/harvard-university-data-breach-exposed-info-of-851-000-accounts-ktfhd2ale","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/harvard-university-data-breach-exposed-info-of-851-000-accounts-ktfhd2ale"},"datePublished":"2026-11-03T10:56:15.839Z","dateModified":"2026-11-03T10:57:20.552Z","description":"A November 2025 breach of Harvard University's Alumni Affairs and Development systems exposed data tied to 851,000 unique email addresses. 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The compromised information included 851,000 unique email addresses tied to Harvard's alumni and fundraising systems, along with names, dates of birth, phone numbers, physical addresses, and social media profiles for donors, alumni, parents, and some faculty, staff, and students. Security teams tracking breach scope and affected-user counts can follow incident updates like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is behind the Harvard University data breach and what data did they steal?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed responsibility, saying it stole over 1 million records containing identifiable information and donation data. The attackers breached Harvard's Alumni Affairs and Development systems in November 2025, and after Harvard refused to pay a ransom, the group leaked a 1.1GB archive of stolen documents on its dark web leak site in early February. Developers evaluating extortion group tactics and leak-site behavior can monitor cases like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Did the Harvard data breach expose Social Security numbers or financial information?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, Harvard's Vice President and Chief Information Officer Klara Jelinkova said the breached IT systems didn't store Social Security numbers, passwords, payment card information, or financial information. The exposed data instead included email addresses, phone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance records, and donation and biographical details tied to fundraising and alumni engagement. Anyone assessing the real blast radius of a breach disclosure can compare notes on incidents like this via daily.dev."}}]} ```