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Harvard Experiences Second Cyberattack This Year, Other Ivy Schools Affected

Cyber Security

Business Honor — Harvard Faces Second Cyberattack This Year, Ivy Hit

Business Honor
08 December, 2025

Harvard and other Ivy League schools faced cyberattacks, that revealed personal and financial information, and cybersecurity upgrades are needed urgently.

Harvard University has announced that it suffered a serious cyberattack for the second time in a year. It was caused by a phone phishing scam, this exposed a database containing personal information about alumni, donors, and some faculty and students. According to the organization, the hacked data includes contact information, gift history, and other funding and alumni relationship records.

Harvard University Information Technology's director of communications, Tim Bailey, told Bloomberg that the university "took action immediately to remove the attacker's access to our systems and avoid further unlawful access." Bailey noted that Harvard is working together with independent cybersecurity professionals and authorities to investigate the hacking, but no participants have been found at present.

This attack comes after a previous information leak in October, which was reportedly related to hacking activities involving Oracle clients. Harvard, one of the wealthiest and oldest universities in the United States, raises more than $1 billion every year and has become an attractive target for complex cyberattacks. Other Ivy League schools have lately suffered cyberattacks. Recently, Princeton University revealed that a file containing information of alumni, donors, students, and other community members had been hacked.

In October, the University of Pennsylvania admitted that some systems linked to its development and alumni operations had been hacked. Columbia University noticed a cyberattack in June that affected around 870,000 students and applicants. This shows the growing risk of colleges that store private financial and personal information. Experts warn that as the education system becomes more digital, security risks will increase. AI-based threat detection, quantum encryption, and self-learning technologies might transform the universities into digital castles, with a single phishing call serving as the only weak point.