MyRecon OSINTHarvard
Behind the exposed accounts
In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
Follow the story
On 18 November 2025, Harvard was breached. 850,537 accounts were exposed, including charitable donations, citizenship statuses, dates of birth. MyRecon rates it 61/100, severe.
How the story unfolded
Open a step to read the detail. Missing dates stay unknown.
02Entry point
The published account does not explain the exact way the data was obtained.
03Discovery and disclosure
A separate discovery or company-disclosure date is not established by this feed record.
04Added to the breach catalogue
2026-11-03. This is the catalogue date, not necessarily the disclosure date.
05Reported outcome
850,537 accounts are listed in this breach. This is a count of accounts, not necessarily individual people. The reported exposed data includes 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.
The story behind the breach
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".
Breach description from Have I Been Pwned, used under a CC BY 4.0 licence.
Read the original disclosure ↗
How did it happen?
The published account does not explain the exact way the data was obtained.
What was the motive?
In November 2025, Harvard University suffered a data breach later linked to a ShinyHunters "pay or leak" extortion attempt .
Reported demands or attempts to sell data describe what happened, rather than prove every attacker's intention.
What was the outcome?
850,537 accounts are listed in this breach. This is a count of accounts, not necessarily individual people.
The reported exposed data includes 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 was exposed, and why it matters
Charitable donations
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Citizenship statuses
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Dates of birth
One of the three things call centres ask to verify identity, and it never changes.
Education levels
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Email addresses
An exposed address may be used in phishing attempts. Treat unexpected messages with caution.
Employers
Connects a personal account to a workplace, which is how attackers pivot from a person to a company.
Ethnicities
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Family members' names
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Genders
Small on its own; useful to anyone assembling a fuller profile.
Job titles
Identifies who has access to what, which is how targets for business email compromise are picked.
Marital statuses
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Names
Turns an anonymous address into an identified person, which is what makes targeted phishing possible.
Occupations
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Phone numbers
Enables SIM-swap attacks against SMS two-factor codes, and puts the number on scam-call lists indefinitely.
Physical addresses
Where someone actually lives. Combined with a name this moves the risk off the internet.
Places of birth
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Salutations
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
Social media profiles
Adds detail to a profile that can be assembled from several breaches at once.
What to do if you were in it
Questions people ask about this breach
Was my email address in the Harvard breach?
Use the email box on this page. The result applies only to this incident. If the provider does not cover this breach, we say so. A missing match does not prove you were unaffected.
What data was included in the Harvard breach?
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. Each one is explained above, along with what it means for the person it belongs to.
When did it happen, and when was it added to HIBP?
The breach is dated 18 November 2025. It was added to Have I Been Pwned on 3 November 2026. The catalogue date does not establish when the data first became public.
Is the Harvard breach real?
Yes. Have I Been Pwned lists it as verified, meaning the data was checked against the source rather than taken on trust.
How many people were affected?
850,537 accounts are listed. This count does not necessarily equal the number of people affected.
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Case Files: how the landmark breaches actually happened →
Three kinds of content appear on this page and they are kept apart deliberately. The breach description is quoted from Have I Been Pwned under its licence. The severity score, the field-by-field explanation and the advice are computed from the record itself, every sentence derives from a number or a flag in it, which is what stops the analysis drifting from the evidence. Anything under the "MyRecon's take" byline is editorial: our reading of this breach, presented as opinion rather than as a finding.