Breach notification service Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) added the Harvard data breach on November 3, saying it covers 850,500 unique email addresses tied to the university’s alumni and fundraising systems. Hackers broke into Harvard’s Alumni Affairs and Development systems in November 2025; Harvard discovered the intrusion on November 18, 2025. HIBP says the data includes names, dates of birth, phone numbers, physical addresses, social media profiles, employers, job titles, family members’ names, charitable donations and other profile details for donors, alumni, parents and some faculty, staff and students.
Harvard has not attributed the attack to a specific group, but the ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed it and, according to BleepingComputer, leaked a 1.1 GB archive on its leak site in early February after Harvard refused to pay. Harvard’s CIO said the affected systems did not store Social Security numbers, passwords, payment card information or financial information. Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania disclosed breaches the same month in which attackers also accessed donor information.
How to check if you’re affected
Affected products are Harvard’s alumni and fundraising records, so the exposure applies to people who gave to, attended events for, or were otherwise in contact with Harvard’s alumni and development offices, not only graduates.
Search your email address at the Have I Been Pwned Harvard breach page or on the HIBP home page. HIBP lists the exposed data types for each breach, so you can see whether your birth date, address or donation history was included. Because the data includes contact details and donation history, treat unexpected messages that mention Harvard, your giving or your alumni status with extra suspicion, and do not use links in them to log in or pay.
Sources
- Have I Been Pwned: Harvard data breach
- Harvard University Information Technology: recent cybersecurity incident FAQ (linked from HIBP; returned HTTP 403 to our automated check, so not read directly)
- BleepingComputer: Harvard University data breach exposed info of 851,000 accounts
- TechCrunch: Hackers publish personal information stolen during Harvard, UPenn data breaches (linked from HIBP)