UC Berkeley Data Breach Investigation | Class Action Lawsuits

The data breach lawyers at The Lyon Firm are investigating an alleged data theft incident involving UC Berkeley. At the time of writing, the breach was not acknowledged or confirmed by the University of California, Berkeley, although unverified third-party reports have surfaced. Contact our legal team to learn more about the potential breach and to discuss your legal options moving forward. We represent clients nationwide.

What happened at UC Berkeley?

One of the nation’s prestigious leaders in academia, UC Berkeley, is reportedly involved in a major cybersecurity incident. A hacker has made claims on a well-known cybercrime forum, suggesting they have stolen the university’s entire database and is putting it up for sale. If confirmed, the theft could threaten the privacy of students, faculty, and staff.

The hacker’s forum post offers the database in SQL and CSV formats—convenient options for anyone looking to exploit it. They’ve gone further, boasting access to Berkeley’s phpMyAdmin panel, a tool that manages databases online. If true, this may have allowed the threat actor to dig deeper into the university’s systems or alter data.

To prove their unverified claims, the hacker shared screenshots showing what appears to be backend access, revealing sensitive information: usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords. They also highlighted outages on several Berkeley subdomains, backed by images of database errors on official university pages, hinting at a possible link to the breach.

The data supposedly for sale on the forum may include the following:

• Student records: Names, contact info, and more.
• Teacher information: Personal details about faculty.
• Usernames and hashed passwords: A gateway to accounts if cracked.
• Payment data: Financial transactions tied to the university.

This alleged breach underscores an ongoing cybersecurity concern for large American institutions. Universities are often targets for cybercriminals because they collect and store huge troves of sensitive data. Our firm will continue to follow this story and investigate other data theft incidents that may impact you and your loved ones. Call us to learn more about how to protect yourself following a data breach.