Columbia University Investigates Cyberattack After Campus-Wide IT Outage
Columbia University in New York City experienced a significant IT outage on the morning of June 24, 2025, that disrupted student services including email and learning platforms. The outage began around 7 a.m. on the university’s Morningside Heights campus in Upper Manhattan and affected UNI login systems, hindering access to LionMail and CourseWorks. Several screens displayed unauthorized images, including one of President Donald Trump, though the university has not confirmed a direct link between these images and the system failure. Columbia’s IT department and the New York Police Department are investigating the incident, while the involvement of federal agencies has not been confirmed.
The university has dismissed online claims of responsibility from an unnamed group, stating the assertions lack credibility. Though clinical operations at Columbia University Irving Medical Center were not impacted, the outage significantly disrupted academic and administrative services. This event echoes a previous cyberattack in 2024, when the hacktivist group Anonymous Arabia claimed responsibility following a politically charged police raid on campus. Columbia officials are working to restore systems and determine whether the disruption was caused by external actors or an internal systems failure.
This incident marks a departure from the financially motivated ransomware attacks that have dominated the education sector in 2025. Recent breaches at institutions such as Western New Mexico University and Valdosta State University involved ransomware and data encryption, while the Columbia case bears hallmarks of a hacktivist campaign—ideologically motivated disruption and symbolic digital defacement. As such attacks increase, higher education institutions are facing a shifting cybersecurity landscape that demands both technical defenses and strategic risk awareness.