Scam of the day – December 25, 2025 – Massive University of Phoenix Data Breach Exposes 3.5 Million Victims in Clop Ransomware Attack

Steven Weisman, Esq.

1 day ago

Today’s Scam of the day is yet another major data breach. This time the victim of the data breach is the University of Phoenix, a popular private for-profit primarily online university with 97% of its students attending through their computers. The university recently reported that it had been hacked through a zero-day defect in the Oracle E-Business Suite financial software it uses. The data breach is being attributed to the Clop ransomware gang, a Russian criminal gang has extorted more than $500 million from its victims since 2019. Other recent victims of data breaches attributed to the same Oracle E-Business Suite software vulnerability include Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. In the case of the University of Phoenix, sensitive information including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and bank account numbers of approximately 3.5 million curent and former students, employees, fculty and suppliers was compromised resulting in a substantial threat of identity theft for those people whose information was stolen.

TIPS

The University of Phoenix is offering free identity theft protection services, 12 months of credit monitoring, identity theft recovery assistance and dark web monitoring to affected individuals who will receive a letter from the University of Phoenix with instructions as to how to apply for these services.

Meanwhile, victims of the data breach should freeze their credit if they have not already done so. Freezing your credit is actually something everyone should do. It is free and easy to do. In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number. If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at each of the major credit reporting agencies. Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:

https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html

Everyone also should monitor their credit reports regularly for indications of identity theft. The three major credit reporting agencies now provide free weekly access to your credit reports so you can monitor your credit reports easily on your own. Here is the only link to use to get your free credit reports.https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

Some scammers have websites that appear to offer “free” credit reports, but if you read the fine print, you often may find that you have signed up for unnecessary services.

Finally, be wary of anyone who calls you asking for personal information in regard to this data breaches as that is a favorite tactic of the hackers to lure you into providing personal information that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft. Scammers often pose as the breached company and contact victims of the data breach to convince them to provide personal information.

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