The University of Pennsylvania has gained an unusual notoriety, being the alma mater to two of the world’s most divisive figures, Elon Musk and Donald Trump. As both men’s political influence surged recently, the U.S. government began applying pressure on Penn, starting with the withdrawal of research funding and scrutinizing its previous decisions related to a transgender swimmer.
After exerting pressure as 'sticks', the government presented a 'carrot' by extending a special 'compact' to Penn, one among just nine schools nationally. This agreement offered preferential federal funding in exchange for broad federal control over the university and its policies. Penn rejected this offer, a situation made even more bizarre considering one of its wealthy benefactors played a role in drafting the compact during the Trump administration.
Subsequently, it appears Penn has become a focal point of the Trump administration. Recently, the institution became a victim of cyberattack by a hacker aligning with the alleged grievances shared by Trump and Musk over affirmative action and 'wokeness'.
On October 31, a sophisticated cyber attack, identified by Penn as involving 'sophisticated identity impersonation' typical of social engineering, compromised several of the university’s systems. These included Salesforce, SharePoint, Box services, and various marketing tools.
Additionally, the attacker seems to have obtained and exposed parts of the sensitive donor database. As reported by the school newspaper, leaked data found on LeakForums consists of documents such as donor and family memos, bank transaction receipts, and personal identifiers.