UCLA Breach

UCLA, or the University of California Los Angeles, was impacted by the string of MOVEit ransomware data breaches that has been impacting much of the country. The university serves more than 32,000 students each term, and it handles massive amounts of data for so many individuals for that reason. With so much data being housed by the university, the breach could do serious harm.

What Was the Breach?

With most data breaches, we get a list of the types of data taken and an explanation about who is impacted by the attack. In the UCLA breach, we don't yet know who was impacted and what data was stolen. If the breach is like most of the others, we suspect some personal information, such as Social Security numbers, names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, etc., was taken. We will have to wait for official statements from the school to learn more about what information was lost.

How Did the Breach Occur?

The UCLA file breach occurred because the C10P ransomware gang installed malware on UCLA's computers and used that program to gain access to the file databases connected to the MOVEit file transfer tool. Those databases contain large amounts of information, and the hackers were able to access that information long enough to make copies.

When Did This Breach Occur?

The breach occurred in May of 2023 and could have persisted for many days before the university patched the file tool and barred access to its data.

Who Does the Breach Impact?

We don't know specifically who the UCLA breach impacts, but we suspect students and faculty members are both at risk because of this breach.

How Many Files Does the Breach Affect?

It's likely that thousands of UCLA files were gathered during this breach, but without knowing the contents of the university's file systems, we cannot say how many files and documents were accessed and copied in the breach.