INSPECTING ARCHIVED INTELLIGENCE (OUTDATED VERSION).

ShinyHunters group linked to data breach of Harvard University

| 2026-11-03 07:24 CRITICAL LOW DATA BREACH
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Executive Summary
AI-generated
25, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt . The data contained 851k unique email addresses relating to the university's alumni and fundraising systems, along with extensive profile information for donors, alumni, parents and some faculty, staff and students. In Harvard's disclosure notice , the university stated that the breach impacted "personal information such as email addresses, telephone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance, details of donations to the University, and other biographical information pertaining to University fundraising and alumni engagement activities".
Technical Mitigations AI-generated
• Reset credentials and API keys that may have been exposed, and review access logs for the affected accounts or integrations.
Intelligence Metadata
Actors / Malware / CVEs / Campaigns
ShinyHuntersShinyHunters
Target & Sectors
Global Scope educationeducation
Incident Timeline
‎November 2025
What Happened In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
tactic Data Breach
What Happened In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
tactic Extortion
What Happened In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
organisation Harvard University
What Happened In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
threat_actor ShinyHunters
What Happened In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
organisation 851k
The data contained 851k unique email addresses relating to the university's alumni and fundraising systems, along with extensive profile information for donors, alumni, parents and some faculty, staff and students.
organisation Harvard
In Harvard's disclosure notice , the university stated that the breach impacted "personal information such as email addresses, telephone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance, details of donations to the University, and other biographical information pertaining to University fundraising and alumni engagement activities".
organisation University
In Harvard's disclosure notice , the university stated that the breach impacted "personal information such as email addresses, telephone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance, details of donations to the University, and other biographical information pertaining to University fundraising and alumni engagement activities".
organisation Recommended Actions
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‎2026/11/03
General Document Context Harvard - 850,537 breached accounts.
organisation Harvard - 850,537
Harvard - 850,537 breached accounts.
Intelligence Sources
Have I Been Pwned 2026-11-03