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Princeton Details Phishing Breach of Advancement Database as Penn Disputes Scope of Separate Hack

Penn rejects a 1.2 million‑record claim, with a forensic review still underway.

Overview

  • Princeton says a targeted phishing attack on Nov. 10 let intruders access a fundraising and alumni engagement database containing biographical contact details.
  • University officials report the compromised Princeton database generally did not hold Social Security numbers, passwords, or financial account data, and access lasted under 24 hours.
  • Princeton blocked the intrusion, believes other systems were not accessed, and notes it has no factual evidence linking its incident to other recent breaches.
  • Penn states the widely cited 1.2 million figure overstates its October breach, reports the FBI was notified, and lists accessed systems including Salesforce, SharePoint, Box, Qlikview, and Marketing Cloud.
  • BleepingComputer reported Penn’s attackers used a stolen PennKey SSO and took 1.71 GB of internal documents, while separate court filings show more than a dozen proposed class actions and a request to consolidate federal cases.