Was Lincoln University hit by ransomware?

Lincoln University was listed by the Meow ransomware operation (United States), and stolen data was published on the group's leak site. Darkfield tracks this disclosure with the original leak post, screenshot and group context.

Who is the Meow ransomware group?

Meow is a ransomware operator tracked by Darkfield. See the full operator dossier for its known victims, sectors targeted, IOCs and leak-site infrastructure.

What data was leaked in the Lincoln University breach?

Meow published data attributed to Lincoln University (~21 GB). Darkfield captured the leak post and a screenshot of the listing.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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Lincoln University

Claimed by Meow · listed 2 years ago

21 GB

Data size

20m

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

ListedNov 6, 2024
Data leakeddate unknown

At a glance

Group: Meow
Status: Data leaked
Country: United States
Sector: Education
Listed on leak site: Nov 6, 2024
Data size: 21 GB

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Lincoln University is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) established in 1854 and located in Pennsylvania. It offers comprehensive liberal arts education with undergraduate and graduate programs, emphasizing academic excellence, small class sizes, and experiential learning opportunities including research, internships, and study abroad programs.

Industry: Higher Education
Address: Pennsylvania, United States
Founded: 1854

Attack summary

Severity: critical — Confirmed exfiltration of highly sensitive regulated data at scale: employee PII with SSNs, medical records, financial account information, and insurance details from an educational institution. This constitutes exposure of both employee and potentially student sensitive information.

The Meow ransomware group claims to have exfiltrated approximately 21 GB of confidential data from Lincoln University. The group states they have obtained employee personal data, financial records, medical information, contracts, and insurance documents.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Employee personal details and Social Security numbers
Insurance information and medical histories
Financial documents including invoices and tax information
Bank transaction records and account balances
Contracts and service agreements
Medical treatment records
Student/personnel dates of birth

What the group claims

Dear customers!We are pleased to offer you exclusive access to over 21 GB of confidential data from Lincoln University, the United States first degree granting Historically Black College and University HBCU, established in 1854 and located in Pennsylvania. Lincoln University offers a comprehensive liberal arts education with a range of undergraduate and graduate programs, fostering a diverse and inclusive environment that welcomes students from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. With a commitment to academic excellence and personalized support, the university provides small class sizes and dedicated faculty, along with numerous opportunities for experiential learning through research, internships, and study abroad programs.This comprehensive data pack includes:Employee data personal details, insurance information, Social Security details Contracts and agreements payment terms, supplier and service agreements Insurance policies and commercial agreements Financial documents supplier invoices, tax information, bank transaction records, account balances Personal data names, dates of birth, insurance details Medical information insurance coverage, medical histories, treatment records, insurance plans And much more This data pack provides detailed insights into Lincoln Universitys operations and may be of significant interest to professionals in higher education administration, business analysis, and other related fields.To gain access to this exclusive 21 GB data pack, click the Buy button and provide your contact details for registration. Our team will guide you through a secure and confidential transaction.Dont miss this opportunity to access in depth information from Lincoln University with this exclusive data pack

Sources

Leak posthttp://meow6xanhzfci2gbkn3lmbqq7xjjufskkdfocqdngt3ltvzgqpsg5mid.onion/product/122

Source

Indexed 2 years 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.

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Disclosure context

About Meow

Meow is a relatively new ransomware group that emerged in November 2023, primarily motivated by financial gain through extortion activities targeting organizations across multiple sectors. The group has compromised at least 145 known victims in a short operational timeframe, demonstrating rapid scaling of their criminal enterprise. Based on their targeting patterns, Meow appears to focus heavily on English-speaking countries, with the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada representing their primary victim base, though they have also expanded operations to include targets in Italy and Colombia. The group shows a preference for attacking business services organizations, manufacturing companies, healthcare institutions, and agriculture and food production entities, suggesting they may employ broad-spectrum targeting rather than highly specialized sector focus. Their emergence in late 2023 and the significant victim count achieved in a relatively short period indicates either a sophisticated operation with experienced operators or potential links to existing ransomware ecosystems, though specific details about their attack methodology, initial access vectors, encryption techniques, or data exfiltration practices have not been extensively documented by major threat intelligence sources. Given the recent timeline of their emergence and limited public reporting from established security researchers, detailed technical analysis of their tools, tactics, and procedures remains sparse. The group appears to remain active as of current reporting, though comprehensive law enforcement actions or major disruption efforts have not been publicly documented. The group has been linked to 145 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 24, 2023; most recent post November 19, 2024. The operation is currently inactive.

Timeline of this disclosure

November 6, 2024Lincoln University listed by Meowon the group's public leak site

Data size: 21 GB

Other recent disclosures by Meow

Meow has been linked to 145 public victims on Darkfield. A sample of the most recent:

See the full Meow dossier →

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Education sector, which has 1,082 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Lincoln University is reported in United States, a country with 11,033 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

If your organisation is affected

A listing by Meow means Lincoln University appeared on a ransomware extortion site and data attributed to it has been published. If this is your organisation, or a supplier you depend on, the priority is to confirm the intrusion and contain it before the window to act closes.

Engage your incident-response team and preserve forensic evidence before remediating — do not wipe affected systems first.
Force a password reset and revoke active sessions for exposed accounts; rotate any credentials, API keys or certificates that may have been in the stolen data.
Assess regulatory notification duties (GDPR, NIS2, sector regulators) — many carry a 72-hour reporting clock from awareness.
Report the incident to your national CERT, CISA (United States), as required for your jurisdiction.
Monitor for the data appearing on Meow's leak site and across paste and breach channels, and brief downstream partners who may be exposed through you.

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.