University of Pennsylvania hacked, hackers send fraudulent emails to students and alumni via university email
On Friday, October 31, 2025, students, alumni, staff, and community members at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, received fraudulent emails from hackers claiming to be from the university's Graduate School of Education (GSE). The hackers threatened to leak data stolen from the University of Pennsylvania's servers.
Hackers threaten to leak data after breaching University of Pennsylvania to send mass emails | TechCrunch
Below is a screenshot of an email received by a University of Pennsylvania official. The subject of the email was 'We got hacked (Important),' and the body of the email read, 'To the University of Pennsylvania community: The University of Pennsylvania is an elitist and biased institution. We have very weak security and lack fairness. We prefer to hire incompetent people who are admitted through donors, nepotism, and special privileges. We also love breaking federal laws (such as FERPA ), and your data will be leaked. Please stop donating.'
The hacker's emails were apparently sent from University of Pennsylvania-related email accounts, including GSE, as well as from email addresses belonging to senior university staff.
Other people affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania have also received this email multiple times from different official email addresses. Amanda Silberling, a senior writer at TechCrunch and a former University of Pennsylvania alumna, reported receiving three emails she believes were sent by hackers from an official University of Pennsylvania email address to her personal email address.
Ron Ogio, a spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania, told TechCrunch that the university's incident response team is 'actively addressing' the situation. 'We are aware of a fraudulent email circulating that appears to be from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. This is clearly a fake, deeply offensive and hurtful message that in no way reflects the mission or actions of the University of Pennsylvania or the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education,' Ogio said.
The scam emails created by the hackers end with a message saying, 'Please stop donating,' so TechCrunch noted that this hack appears to be aimed at discouraging alumni from donating to the university.
TechCrunch also points out that this hacking incident occurred shortly after the University of Pennsylvania publicly rejected the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education , a framework that requires universities to comply with the Trump administration's wishes in exchange for federal funding. Six other universities have also rejected the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.
Jameson releases Penn's letter declining White House compact in 'spirit of transparency' - The Daily Pennsylvanian
https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/10/penn-transparency-compact-letter-jameson-white-house
In addition, University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson publicly refused to join the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education on the university's official public relations website, pointing out that the Compact 'prioritizes and mandates the protection of only conservative ideas' and that 'its one-sided conditions are inconsistent with the diversity of viewpoints and freedom of expression that are central to universities' contributions to democracy and society.'
An Update on Penn's Response to the Compact for Academic Excellence | Penn Today
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/announcements/update-penns-response-compact-academic-excellence
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in Security, Posted by logu_ii