Data breach disclosed by University of Pennsylvania

TechCrunch reports that the University of Pennsylvania has admitted to having its data stolen after initially dismissing hacking email notices sent to its alumni and other affiliates as fake last week.

Attackers leveraged social engineering tactics to compromise certain IT systems used by Penn for its development and alumni activities, according to a statement from the university, which noted that further unauthorized access was blocked after the immediate shutdown of the impacted systems.

Additional details regarding the incident remain under wraps but a Penn employee noted that multi-factor authentication exemptions had been granted to some high-ranking university officials. Data from university donors, personally identifiable information, and bank transaction receipts were claimed to have been obtained from the hack, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Such a breach comes months after Columbia University had sensitive details from nearly 870,000 students and applicants stolen from its IT system. Both university-aimed cyberattacks are believed to have been conducted in retaliation for their affirmative action policies.