Disclosure context

About Hunters International

Hunters International is a ransomware group that emerged in October 2023, operating with primarily financial motivations and demonstrating rapid expansion in their victim targeting across multiple sectors. The group's origin and specific affiliations remain largely undocumented by major security agencies, though their operational patterns suggest they function as an independent ransomware operation rather than a established Ransomware-as-a-Service model. Based on publicly available victim data, Hunters International has demonstrated a preference for targeting business services, technology, and manufacturing sectors, with their attacks primarily concentrated in English-speaking countries including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Their attack methodology and specific technical capabilities have not been extensively documented by major threat intelligence organizations such as CISA, FBI, or Mandiant, limiting detailed analysis of their initial access vectors, encryption methods, or data exfiltration practices. With 388 documented victims since their emergence, the group has shown consistent activity levels, though specific high-profile campaigns or notable ransom demands have not been widely reported in public threat intelligence reports. As of current reporting, Hunters International appears to remain active with no documented law enforcement disruptions or operational changes reported by major cybersecurity agencies. The group has been linked to 388 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on October 20, 2023; most recent post March 26, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: Hunters.

Timeline of this disclosure

February 24, 2026University of Pennsylvania listed by Hunters Internationalon the group's public leak site

Records: 1.2M Records

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Education sector, which has 694 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, University of Pennsylvania is reported in United States, a country with 7,392 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

How we know this. Darkfield monitors public ransomware leak sites continuously, archiving every new disclosure and the data later released against the victim. Each entry on this page is sourced from the operator's own publication and cross-checked against complementary OSINT feeds (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch). We do not collect or host stolen data — only the metadata, timestamps and screenshots needed to make the public disclosure searchable and accountable. Records here are corrected when the original post is edited, retracted, or merged with another disclosure.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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University of Pennsylvania

Claimed by Hunters International · listed 3 months ago

1.2M Records

Records

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Feb 24, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: Hunters International
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Education
Listed on leak site: Feb 24, 2026
Records: 1.2M Records

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) is a private Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1740, it comprises 12 schools offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees across arts, sciences, engineering, business, medicine, and law. It is one of the largest private employers in Philadelphia and enrolls approximately 28,000 students annually.

Industry: Higher Education
Address: 3451 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
Employees: 10000+
Founded: 1740

Attack summary

Severity: critical — 1.2 million records exfiltrated from a major research university almost certainly encompasses regulated PII at scale (FERPA-protected student data, employee records, potentially medical/research data from affiliated health systems), and the data has been published, confirming exfiltration of sensitive data at critical scale.

Hunters International claims to have exfiltrated 1.2 million records from the University of Pennsylvania, with data described as published following the victim's refusal to pay a ransom. The post indicates the data has been released as a consequence of non-payment.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Student records
Personnel records
Personal identifiable information (PII)
Administrative data

What the group claims

Records: 1.2M Records | Updated: 04 Feb 2026 | Note: Make the right decision, don't be the next headline. | This is the direct result of advisors advising you against paying a ransom. It has the opposite effect. Do NOT provoke us again and pay the ransom when we contact you.

Source

Indexed 3 months ago

This page surfaces a public ransomware disclosure indexed by Darkfield. Original posts come from the operator's own leak site; we cross-check against ransomware.live, RansomLook and RansomWatch where applicable. Share this URL freely.