Breach Database / Harvard
Yes — Harvard was breached.
- 850,537 accounts affected
- Breach occurred 2025-11-18 · harvard.edu
- Verified entry in the Have I Been Pwned catalog
What happened
In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt. The data contained 851k unique email addresses relating to the university's alumni and fundraising systems, along with extensive profile information for donors, alumni, parents and some faculty, staff and students. In Harvard's disclosure notice, the university stated that the breach impacted "personal information such as email addresses, telephone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance, details of donations to the University, and other biographical information pertaining to University fundraising and alumni engagement activities".
What data was exposed
- Charitable donations
- Citizenship statuses
- Dates of birth
- Education levels
- Email addresses
- Employers
- Ethnicities
- Family members' names
- Genders
- Job titles
- Marital statuses
- Names
- Occupations
- Phone numbers
- Physical addresses
- Places of birth
- Salutations
- Social media profiles
What to do right now
- Be alert for smishing and SIM-swap attempts. Treat unexpected texts and "carrier" calls with suspicion; add a PIN/port-freeze with your mobile carrier.
- Watch for targeted phishing mail. A leaked home address makes postal and doorstep scams more convincing.
- Expect convincing phishing emails. Attackers use breached details to write personalized emails. Be suspicious of any message referencing this service.
- Check your other accounts on Have I Been Pwned. Your email address may appear in other breaches you don't know about yet.
- Monitor the apps you use going forward. Clearly watches the breach record for the companies behind your apps and alerts you the moment one appears.
Breach data from Have I Been Pwned. Listing here means the service appears in the public breach record — not that your personal data was affected.