Xavier University of Louisiana says the personal data of 44,000 students leaked in a November cyberattack

Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA), the only historically Black Catholic university in the United States, has reported a data breach in which Social Security numbers (SSN) and other personal information from more than 44,000 students and vendors was leaked in November.

In a notice of data breach filed with the Maine Attorney General, XULA said it suffered a ransomware cyberattack on November 22, which led to network disruption. It engaged cybersecurity experts to assist with the process. It was determined on January 24 that a third party may have accessed the personal information of students and vendors without authorization during the incident.

After confirming that the data had been exposed, XULA began notifying those affected by the breach. It is unknown whether all 44,000 people were informed of the incident. Experian provides a year of free credit monitoring and identity protection services to compensate those impacted by the cyberattack.

One of several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) with approximately 75% African American or black students, XULA has a student body of roughly 3,400 and employs a teaching staff of over 230.