Princeton University confirmed on November 15 that an Advancement database containing sensitive personal information about alums, donors, faculty members, students, parents, and other community members was compromised by outside actors on November 10.
The unauthorized access lasted less than 24 hours before the institution’s security teams discovered and responded to the incident.
The compromised database contains a significant volume of personal data, including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and both home and business addresses belonging to members of the Princeton community.
The database also contains records related to fundraising activities and donations made to the University, potentially exposing the philanthropic history of affected individuals.
However, Princeton’s preliminary investigation has revealed that specific highly sensitive data categories were not present in the compromised database.
The institution stated that the database does not generally contain Social Security numbers, passwords, or financial information such as credit card or bank account numbers.
Additionally, the database does not include detailed student records covered by federal privacy laws or employment information about staff members, except for those who are also donors.
Details of Compromised Donor Information
In response to the breach, Princeton University’s teams have been coordinating with outside cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies to determine the full scope of the incident and assess what specific information may have been accessed by the attackers.
The University acknowledged that it currently does not know exactly which data within the database was viewed or accessed during the unauthorized access period.
The institution discovered the breach and successfully removed the attacker or attackers from its systems within 24 hours of the initial compromise.
Princeton has stated that, based on their investigation to date, no other University technology systems appear to have been compromised in connection with this incident, suggesting the breach was limited to the single Advancement database.
In a message sent to potentially affected individuals on November 15, Princeton University urged recipients to remain vigilant and alert for suspicious communications.
The University emphasized that legitimate Princeton representatives would never contact individuals requesting sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, passwords, or banking details through unsolicited calls, texts, or emails.
The institution advised anyone uncertain about the legitimacy of communications purporting to be from Princeton to verify them with a known University contact before clicking links or downloading attachments.
This advisory is particularly important given the elevated risk of social engineering and phishing attacks that typically follow major data breaches.
Threat actors often attempt to exploit public knowledge of breaches to craft convincing fraudulent communications that appear to come from the affected organization.
Princeton University has committed to providing updates to affected individuals as its investigation progresses.
The University continues to work with external cybersecurity specialists and law enforcement to determine the identity of the attackers and understand their motives, though no additional details have been released publicly regarding these investigative efforts.
Individuals who believe their information may have been affected by this breach are encouraged to monitor their personal information closely and take appropriate precautions to protect themselves from potential identity theft or fraud.
The incident highlights the ongoing challenges that educational institutions face in protecting large databases containing personal information about their diverse communities.
Follow us on Google News, LinkedIn, and X to Get Instant Updates and Set GBH as a Preferred Source in Google.