Penn Admissions Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (PEN3792837111425)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Penn Admissions breach identified under incident ID PEN3792837111425.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Penn Admissions's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/penn-admissions, the number of followers: 2269, the industry type: Higher Education and the number of employees: 8 employees

After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 673 and after the incident was 574 with a difference of -99 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.

In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on Penn Admissions and their customers.

On 31 October 2025, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) disclosed Data Breach, Social Engineering and Unauthorized Access issues under the banner "University of Pennsylvania Data Breach (2025)".

On Oct.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting Salesforce Marketing Cloud and UPenn Email System (spoofed Graduate School of Education account), and exposing Personal Data (birthdates, names, etc.), Donor Information and Potential FERPA Violations (student records), with nearly 1.2 million (alleged; unconfirmed by UPenn) records at risk.

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Investigation into Salesforce Marketing Cloud Access and Email Spoofing Mitigation, and stakeholders are being briefed through Email Notification to Affected Parties (pending confirmation) and Public Statements via Media.

The case underscores how Ongoing (UPenn unable to confirm scope or full details), teams are taking away lessons such as Decentralized security structures increase vulnerability, Social engineering remains a critical attack vector, especially in higher education and Balancing security measures with user convenience is challenging but necessary, and recommending next steps like Implement stricter multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all systems, especially cloud platforms like Salesforce, Centralize cybersecurity governance to improve coordination and Enhance employee and student training on phishing/social engineering (e.g., UPenn's DUST program), with advisories going out to stakeholders covering UPenn students notified via email (spoofed initially, legitimate advisories pending).

Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.

Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts (T1078.004) with high confidence (95%), supported by evidence indicating compromised PennKey to access the **Salesforce Marketing Cloud** and Phishing: Spearphishing Link (T1566.002) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating social engineering via a compromised PennKey, spoofed Graduate School of Education account. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Unsecured Credentials: Credentials In Files (T1552.001) with moderate to high confidence (85%), supported by evidence indicating lack of Multi-Factor Authentication (implied), compromised PennKey and Steal Web Session Cookie (T1539) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating persistent access to Salesforce Marketing Cloud (implied by valid session). Under the Persistence tactic, the analysis identified Account Manipulation: Additional Cloud Roles (T1098.003) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating backdoors established such as Persistent access to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts (T1078.004) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating exploited social engineering via a compromised PennKey to access Salesforce and Hide Artifacts: Email Hiding Rules (T1564.008) with moderate to high confidence (75%), supported by evidence indicating sent a malicious email impersonating the Graduate School of Education. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Email Collection: Remote Email Collection (T1114.002) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating access the **Salesforce Marketing Cloud**, Email Lists in file_types_exposed and Data from Local System (T1005) with moderate to high confidence (85%), supported by evidence indicating exfiltrated **1.2 million records**, including PII, donor info, historical data. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol: Exfiltration Over Unencrypted/Obfuscated Non-C2 Protocol (T1048.003) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating exfiltration via **Salesforce Marketing Cloud**, data exfiltration such as Confirmed and Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating data exfiltration such as Confirmed (via Salesforce), data sold on dark web such as Claimed. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Gather Victim Identity Information: Credentials (T1589.002) with high confidence (95%), supported by evidence indicating 1.2M records exposed, including **PII, donor details, potential SSNs**, Data Destruction (T1485) with lower confidence (30%), supported by evidence indicating no direct evidence, but reputation damage and derogatory email imply intent to harm, and Malicious Activity via API (T1659) with moderate to high confidence (85%), supported by evidence indicating access the **Salesforce Marketing Cloud** (API-driven exfiltration implied). Under the Reconnaissance tactic, the analysis identified Gather Victim Org Information (T1591) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating targeting ultra-high-net-worth individuals (e.g., donors, Joe Biden), historical data (1920s) and Gather Victim Identity Information: Credentials (T1589.001) with moderate to high confidence (85%), supported by evidence indicating compromised PennKey suggests prior credential harvesting. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.