A politically motivated hacker breached Columbia College’s knowledge methods final week, stealing troves of pupil paperwork whereas briefly shutting down the varsity’s laptop methods, a college official stated Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Columbia declined to elaborate on the political motivations behind the assault. However officers described a extremely subtle “hacktivist” who had gained entry to non-public pupil information in an try to additional a political agenda.
The spokesperson stated it was unclear if the Trump picture show was related to the info breach.
“We are investigating the scope of the apparent theft and will share our findings with the University community as well as anyone whose personal information was compromised,” the varsity stated.
The cyberattack comes as Columbia stays within the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which has threatened to drag $400 million in federal funds over what it claims is the varsity’s failure to guard Jewish college students.
Negotiations over a doable settlement are ongoing. The college has already agreed to a number of modifications demanded by Trump, together with putting its Center East research division beneath new supervision and overhauling its guidelines for protests and pupil self-discipline.
In March, a cyberattack towards New York College resulted in pupil admission information briefly showing on the varsity’s web site. A web based hacker who took credit score for that motion on social media stated the intent was to show the college was not in compliance with the Supreme Court docket resolution banning affirmative motion in school admissions.
An NYU spokesperson stated on the time that the info displayed on its webpage was “inaccurate and misleading,” adding that the university “scrupulously complies with the law.”
