Technology
University of Phoenix data breach hits 3.5M people
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The University of Phoenix has confirmed a major data breach affecting nearly 3.5 million people. The incident traces back to August when attackers accessed the university’s network and quietly stole sensitive information.
The school detected the intrusion on Nov. 21. That discovery came after the attackers listed the university on a public leak site. In early December, the university disclosed the incident, and its parent company filed an 8-K with regulators.
The scope is large. Notification letters filed with Maine’s Attorney General show 3,489,274 individuals were affected. Those affected include current and former students, faculty, staff and suppliers.
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DATA BREACH EXPOSES 400,000 BANK CUSTOMERS’ INFO
The University of Phoenix data breach exposed sensitive personal and financial information tied to nearly 3.5 million people. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
What happened and how attackers got in
According to the university, hackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Oracle E-Business Suite. This application handles financial operations and contains highly sensitive data.
Based on the technical details shared so far, security researchers believe the attack aligns with tactics used by the Clop ransomware gang. Clop has a long track record of stealing data through zero-day flaws rather than encrypting systems.
The vulnerability tied to this campaign is tracked as CVE-2025-61882. Investigators say it has been abused since early August.
What data was exposed
The university says the attackers accessed highly sensitive personal and financial information. That includes:
- Full names
- Contact information
- Dates of birth
- Social security numbers
- Bank account numbers
- Routing numbers
This type of data creates a serious risk. It can fuel identity theft, financial fraud and targeted phishing scams.
700CREDIT DATA BREACH EXPOSES SSNS OF 5.8M CONSUMERS
Stolen University of Phoenix records could be used by criminals to launch targeted phishing and identity theft attacks. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Nearly 3.5 million people affected
In letters sent to affected individuals, the university confirmed the breach affects 3,489,274 people. If you are a current or former student or employee, watch your mail closely.
These notifications often arrive by postal mail, not email. The letter explains what data was exposed and includes instructions for protective services.
We reached out to the University of Phoenix for comment, and a rep provided CyberGuy with the following statement:
“We recently experienced a cybersecurity incident involving the Oracle E-Business Suite software platform. Upon detecting the incident on November 21, 2025, we promptly took steps to investigate and respond with the assistance of leading third-party cybersecurity firms. We are reviewing the impacted data and will provide the required notifications to affected individuals and regulatory entities.”
Free identity protection is now available
The University of Phoenix is offering affected individuals free identity protection services. These include:
- 12 months of credit monitoring
- Identity theft recovery assistance
- Dark web monitoring
- A $1 million fraud reimbursement policy
To enroll, you must use the redemption code provided in the notification letter. Without that code, you cannot activate the service.
This attack fits a larger Clop campaign
The University of Phoenix breach is not an isolated case. Clop has used similar tactics in past campaigns involving GoAnywhere MFT, Accellion FTA, MOVEit Transfer, Cleo and Gladinet CentreStack.
Other universities have also reported Oracle EBS-related incidents. These include Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
The U.S. government is taking notice. The U.S. Department of State is now offering a reward of up to $10 million for information linking Clop’s attacks to a foreign government.
Why colleges are prime targets
Universities store massive amounts of personal data. Student records, financial aid files, payroll systems and donor databases all live under one roof.
Like healthcare organizations, colleges present a high-value target. A single breach can expose years of data tied to millions of people.
MAKE 2026 YOUR MOST PRIVATE YEAR YET BY REMOVING BROKER DATA
Affected University of Phoenix students and staff should act quickly to monitor accounts and protect their identities. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Steps to stay safe right now
If you believe you may be affected, act quickly. These steps can reduce your risk.
1) Watch for your breach notification letter
Read it carefully. It explains what data was exposed and how to enroll in protection services.
2) Enroll in the free identity protection
First, use the redemption code provided. Because Social Security and banking data are involved, credit monitoring and recovery services matter. Even if you do not qualify for the free service, an identity theft protection service is still a smart move.
In addition, these services actively monitor sensitive details like your Social Security number, phone number and email address. If your information appears on the dark web or if someone tries to open a new account, you receive an alert right away. As a result, many services also help you quickly freeze bank and credit card accounts to limit further fraud.
See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft at Cyberguy.com
3) Use a data removal service
Because this breach exposed names, contact details and other identifiers, reducing what is publicly available about you matters. A data removal service can help remove your personal information from data broker sites, which lowers the risk of targeted phishing or fraud tied to the stolen University of Phoenix records.
While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.
Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com
Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com
4) Monitor financial accounts daily
Check bank statements and credit card activity for unfamiliar charges. Report anything suspicious immediately.
5) Consider freezing your credit
A credit freeze can stop criminals from opening new accounts in your name. It is free and reversible. To learn more about how to do this, go to Cyberguy.com and search “How to freeze your credit.”
6) Be alert for phishing attempts and use strong antivirus software
Expect more scam emails and phone calls. Criminals may reference the breach to sound legitimate.
The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.
Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com
7) Secure your devices
Keep your operating systems and apps up to date, as attackers often exploit outdated software to gain access. In addition, enable automatic updates and review app permissions to prevent stolen personal data from being combined with device-level access and causing further harm.
Kurt’s key takeaways
The University of Phoenix data breach highlights a growing problem in higher education. When attackers exploit trusted enterprise software, the fallout spreads fast and wide. While free identity protection helps, long-term vigilance matters most. Staying alert can limit damage long after the headlines fade.
If universities cannot protect this level of sensitive data, should students demand stronger cybersecurity standards before enrolling? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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When Oregon resident Isabelle Reksopuro heard Google was gobbling up public land to fuel its data centers in her home state, she didn’t initially know what to believe. “There’s a lot of misinformation about data centers,” she said. “Google has denied taking that land.”
Technically, she explains, The Dalles, a city near the Washington state border, sought to reclaim that land, “and Google is just a big, unnamed power user.” The city had in fact asked for ownership of a 150-acre portion of Mount Hood National Forest, claiming it needs access to Mount Hood’s watershed to meet municipal needs as its population — 16,010 as of the 2020 census — grows. But critics, including environmentalists, say the city is trying to secure more water for Google, which has a sprawling data center campus in The Dalles that already consumes about one-third of the city’s water supply.
This controversy made Reksopuro curious about the backlash to data centers being built in other communities. So Reksopuro, a student at the University of Washington who studies the connections between tech and public policy, decided to map it out. Using information collected by Epoch AI and data scraped from legislation on data centers, she built an interactive map tracking AI policy around the world. She designed it to be simple enough for anyone to use. “I wanted it to be something that my younger sisters could play through and explore to understand what are the data centers in the area and what’s actually being done about it,” Reksopuro said. She hoped to shift their opinions that way, “instead of like, through TikTok.”
Four times a day, the map searches for new sources and checks them against the existing database Reksopuro built out. “Once it does that, it will write a new summary, add it to the news feed, and populate it on the sidebar,” she said. “I wanted it to be self-updating, since I’m also a student.”
Reksopuro isn’t against data centers, but she thinks tech giants benefit from a lack of transparency around data center policies. “Right now, it’s this really opaque thing — and all of a sudden, there’s a facility,” she said. “I think that if people knew about data centers beforehand, it would give them leverage. They would be able to negotiate: ask for job training programs, tax revenue, environmental monitoring, things to improve their community.”
UCF commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield (University of Central Florida via Storyful)
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TOUGH CROWD: During a recent commencement ceremony at the University of Central Florida, a speaker was met with loud boos from the graduating class after declaring that artificial intelligence represents the next industrial revolution. Fox News Digital reporting captures this tense cultural moment, illustrating the mixed public sentiment and skepticism surrounding AI’s growing footprint in daily life.
A statue on the campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. (iStock)
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FBI Director Kash Patel listened as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a press conference at the Department of Justice on April 28, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the 2026 Infrastructure Summit in Washington, D.C., on March 11, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)
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Microsoft Edge is adding a new feature that will allow its Copilot AI chatbot to gather information from all of your open tabs. When you start a conversation with Copilot, you can ask the chatbot questions about what’s in your tabs, compare the products you’re looking at, summarize your open articles, and more.
In its announcement, Microsoft says you can “select which experiences you want or leave off the ones you don’t.” The company is retiring Copilot Mode as well, which could similarly draw information from your tabs but offered some agentic features, like the ability to book a reservation on your behalf. Microsoft has since folded these agentic capabilities into its “Browse with Copilot” tool.
Several other AI features are coming to Edge, including an AI-powered “Study and Learn” mode that can turn the article you’re looking at into a study session or interactive quiz. There’s a new tool that turns your tabs into AI-powered podcasts as well, similar to what you’d find on NotebookLM, and an AI writing assistant that will pop up when you start entering text on a webpage.
You can also give Copilot permission to access your browsing history to provide more “relevant, high-quality answers,” according to Microsoft. Copilot in Edge on desktop and mobile will come with “long-term memory” as well, which can tailor its responses based on your previous conversations. And, when you open up a new tab, you’ll see a redesigned page that combines chat, search, and web navigation, along with the Journeys feature, which uses AI to organize your browsing history into categories that you can revisit.
Meanwhile, an update to Edge’s mobile app will allow you to share your screen with Copilot and talk through the questions about what you’re seeing. Microsoft says you’ll see “clear visual cues” when Copilot is active, “so you know when it’s taking an action, helping, listening, or viewing.”
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