**Personal Data of Over a Million Individuals Leaked Online After Harvard and UPenn Data Breaches**

The dark web has become the latest hotspot for stolen personal data, courtesy of hacking group ShinyHunters. The cybercriminals have released all the files they stole from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) in late 2025, making over a million records available to download and exploit.

Both organizations confirmed having been breached, with TechCrunch verifying a portion of the dataset. It's alleged that the hackers accessed sensitive information including names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, estimated net worth, donation history, and demographic details (race, religion, sexual orientation, and similar).

The breach at UPenn is believed to have occurred when hackers gained "full access" to an employee SSO account, allowing them to access various university systems including the VPN, Salesforce data, Qlik analytics platform, SAP business intelligence system, and SharePoint files. The group reportedly used this access to send offensive emails to over 700,000 recipients.

Initially, UPenn described the emails as "obviously fake" and "fraudulent", but later backtracked and confirmed the breach. Roughly three weeks later, Harvard also confirmed a system compromise, stating that personal data on past and present students, staff, and donors was exposed due to a voice phishing attack.

The information stolen from Harvard includes details about alumni, donors, some faculty and staff, and some current students, as well as spouses, partners, and parents of alumni. This breach also affected current and former students.

ShinyHunters claims they decided to leak the files now since negotiations broke down with the universities. Typically, hackers would steal files and then demand payment in crypto, in exchange for deleting them. When the victim decides not to pay, the data gets published, as was the case here. No encryptors were deployed in these attacks.

**A Guide to Protecting Your Data**

In light of this breach, it's essential to take steps to protect your personal data. Here are some top-rated antivirus software options:

* **Bitdefender Total Security**: Best overall antivirus software * **Norton 360 with LifeLock**: Best for families * **McAfee Mobile Security**: Best for mobile devices

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