Columbia University Data Breach Exposes Personal and Financial Data of 870,000

Columbia University disclosed a significant cybersecurity incident that compromised personal and financial information of nearly 870,000 individuals, making it one of the largest data breaches affecting an educational institution this year.

The breach, which occurred between May 16 and June 2025, was discovered on July 8, 2025, and affected individuals were notified on August 7, 2025.

Scope and Impact of the Breach

The external system breach, characterized as a hacking incident, impacted approximately 868,969 individuals nationwide, including 2,026 Maine residents.

The compromised data included names and other personal identifiers combined with additional sensitive information, though the university has not disclosed the complete scope of financial data accessed by the attackers.

The incident represents a significant security failure for the prestigious Ivy League institution, which maintains extensive databases containing student, faculty, staff, and alumni information.

The breach’s scale suggests that multiple university systems were potentially ...