The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court for New Jersey, claim Princeton failed to implement basic cybersecurity safeguards, allowing hackers to infiltrate an advancement database on Nov. 10 through the phishing scheme.
One plaintiff claimed that the attack put the personal information of more than 100,000 people at risk.
The Princeton University Advancement database stores biographical information pertaining to fundraising and alumni engagement activities, the university said on its website last week.
“We believe it does not contain passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card information, or bank account records,” the university said.
However, one class-action complaint filed Nov. 18 in Florida by David Ramirez, alleged that the breach of the Princeton University Advancement database compromised “names, email addresses, telephone numbers, home and business addresses, and information concerning fundraising activities and donations made to Princeton.”
“Cybercriminals have accessed and obtained everything they need to commit identity theft and wreak havoc on the personal lives of thousands of individuals,” Ramirez’s attorney, Leanna A. Loginov, wrote.
A second lawsuit was filed on the same day by Henggao Cai.
Cai said Princeton erred in combining so much personal data in one location because “if it leaks, as the University Advancement database has, it enables scammers, fraudsters, and phishers to craft especially compelling targeted attacks against, upon information and belief, over a hundred thousand people,” according to the filing signed by Kevin Laukaitis, an attorney in Puerto Rico.
Princeton University responded Monday to the lawsuits in response to a request for comment by NJ Advance Media.
“We believe these claims are without merit, and we plan to contest them vigorously,” said university spokesperson Jennifer Morrill.
The database includes information on all alumni and former students who enrolled but did not graduate; alumni spouses and partners; widows and widowers of alumni; any university donor; parents of current and former students and former and current employees, including faculty.
Anyone in those groups “should assume some level of information about them is likely to be in the database,” Princeton said on its website.
Princeton has attributed the breach to phone phishing — a scam in which someone is duped into turning over personal or financial information — that targeted a university employee with ordinary access to the Advancement database.
The incident began midday on Nov. 10 and was blocked less than 24 hours later, Princeton said.
The university said it has not heard from whoever was behind the breach.
No arrests had been announced as of Monday.
Princeton said it has “no reason” to believe the cyberattack was politically motivated, nor any factual information that might link it to incidents at other universities.
Princeton said it might take several weeks to determine exactly what data was compromised.
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