Hacker With 'Political Agenda' Stole Data From Columbia, University Says (therecord.media) 16
A politically motivated hacker breached Columbia University's IT systems, stealing vast amounts of sensitive student and employee data -- including admissions decisions and Social Security numbers. The Record reports: The hacker reportedly provided Bloomberg News with 1.6 gigabytes of data they claimed to have stolen from the university, including information from 2.5 million applications going back decades. The stolen data the outlet reviewed reportedly contains details on whether applicants were rejected or accepted, their citizenship status, their university ID numbers and which academic programs they sought admission to. While the hacker's claims have not been independently verified, Bloomberg said it compared data provided by the hacker to that belonging to eight Columbia applicants seeking admission between 2019 and 2024 and found it matched.
The threat actor reportedly told Bloomberg he was seeking information that would indicate whether the university continues to use affirmative action in admissions despite a 2023 Supreme Court decision prohibiting the practice. The hacker told Bloomberg he obtained 460 gigabytes of data in total -- after spending two months targeting and penetrating increasingly privileged layers of the university's servers -- and said he harvested information about financial aid packages, employee pay and at least 1.8 million Social Security numbers belonging to employees, applicants, students and their family members.
The threat actor reportedly told Bloomberg he was seeking information that would indicate whether the university continues to use affirmative action in admissions despite a 2023 Supreme Court decision prohibiting the practice. The hacker told Bloomberg he obtained 460 gigabytes of data in total -- after spending two months targeting and penetrating increasingly privileged layers of the university's servers -- and said he harvested information about financial aid packages, employee pay and at least 1.8 million Social Security numbers belonging to employees, applicants, students and their family members.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Thought I was having a nightmare. An 80 year old dementia patient running the country.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Smiling picture of Trump (Score:4, Interesting)
trump claims without evidence that Biden's Jan. 6 panel pardons are void because he allegedly used an autopen
White House lawyers during the George W. Bush administration said the use of an autopen is perfectly legal, and constitutional scholars say that nothing in the Constitution even requires pardons to be signed anyway
Re: (Score:1)
Oh, and Columbia still gives preference to legacy applicants. How the hell is that still legal in 2025?
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Are you referring to the lawsuit where they pledged not to consider finances in the admission process then did it anyway?
They will probably stop making that claim rather than stop considering finances.
Making claims can be fraud, but I don't see how the admission decision itself could be illegal.
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Are you referring to the lawsuit where they pledged not to consider finances in the admission process then did it anyway?
No, I understood "legacy applicant" refers to the children of past students. And they get priority access, not having to earn their own way.
Call it nepotism, or preserving privileged, it seems wrong.
The finances thing is trickier, where they would prefer people who can pay. The cost of education in the US is insane, and a massive barrier to equality or meritocracy. But is there any reason to tie that to "legacy".
Serves them right (Score:2)
Serves those drug lords right.
Oh, you mean the university, not the country?