Breach date: 2025-10-30. Added to this index: 2026-02-16. Accounts affected: about 624K. Domain: upenn.edu.
What happened
In October 2025, the University of Pennsylvania was the victim of a data breach followed by a ransom demand, largely affecting its donor database. After the incident, the attackers sent inflammatory emails to some victims. The data was later published online in February 2026 and included 624k unique email addresses alongside names and physical addresses. For some donor records, additional personal information was exposed, including gender and date of birth. A small subset of records also contained religion, spouse name, estimated income and donation history.
Breach data sourced from Have I Been Pwned, used under CC BY 4.0. Additional breach metadata provided by XposedOrNot. DataExposed is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.
What was exposed
Charitable donations: Records of gifts you made to charities, churches, campaigns or fundraising pages, often with amounts, dates, payment method and the cause you supported.
Dates of birth: Your full birth date, day, month and year, collected at signup for age checks, identity verification, insurance quotes, birthday offers or government services.
Email addresses: The email address you used to register or log in. It is the most common field in breaches because it doubles as your username on most sites.
Genders: The gender or sex recorded on your profile, usually picked from a list at signup, sometimes with a title such as Mr or Ms or a gender identity option beyond male and female.
Income levels: An estimated or self-reported household or personal income band, collected by surveys, lenders, retailers, dating apps and marketing databases.
Job titles: Your role or position, such as accounts payable officer, nurse or IT administrator, recorded by professional networks, business software, event registrations and marketing lists.
Names: Your first name, surname and sometimes middle name or initials, as you gave them when you signed up. It appears in almost every breach because nearly every account asks for it.
Physical addresses: Your residential, postal, billing or delivery address, stored by retailers, utilities, banks, government services and almost any company that sends you something.
Religions: Your faith, denomination, beliefs or religious community membership, recorded by dating apps, faith apps, charities, schools, churches and community organisations.
Salutations: The title used before your name, such as Mr, Mrs, Ms, Mx, Dr or Rev, stored so letters and emails can address you formally.
Spouses names: The name of your husband, wife or partner, stored by insurers, banks, employers, travel services, schools and emergency contact records.
What to do now
Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
Review the accounts connected to this service and turn on two-factor authentication.
Turn on two-factor authentication on your email account first, because it is the reset path for everything else.
Treat calls and messages that quote real details about you as hostile until you verify them another way.
Frequently asked questions
What data was leaked in the University of Pennsylvania breach?
The University of Pennsylvania breach exposed Charitable donations, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Genders, Income levels, Job titles, Names, Physical addresses, Religions, Salutations, Spouses names. About 624K accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the University of Pennsylvania breach?
Run the free email breach check with the address you used on that service. It will tell you whether your address appears in this dataset.
What should I do about the University of Pennsylvania breach?
Treat any message that quotes details from this breach as suspicious, turn on two-factor authentication, and consider removing your details from people-search sites if your address or phone was included.