Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Hackers claim responsibility for sending hoax email claiming UConn's president had died

A shadowy hacking group has taken responsibility for sending an email Wednesday to the University of Connecticut community that claimed the school’s president had died

Via AP news wire
Thursday 06 July 2023 16:18 BST
UConn Mascot
UConn Mascot

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A shadowy hacking group has taken responsibility for breaching the University of Connecticut's network and sending an email to the community that claimed the school's president had died.

The hoax email, sent early Wednesday morning, went to everyone on the school's undergraduate listserv informing students of the “Unfortunate Passing of Radenka Maric.”

A hacking group called “SiegedSec" claimed responsibility. The group has also claimed responsibility for hacking government websites in several states that it said on its Telegram channel were targeted for acting to ban gender-affirming care.

In an online chat interview with The Hartford Courant, a person claiming to be the group's leader said the UConn break-in was not political. Instead, he did it “for the lulz,” the pure hacker pleasure of showing it could be done.

He said the group was able to get the username and password for the UConn Daily Digest email account in publicly available data on a source code repository platform. He said the system did not have a two-factor authentication system, allowing them to log in and send the email.

Stephanie Reitz, the school's spokeswoman, said the school has taken corrective action to prevent a repeat of the hack.

“UConn’s IT department removed the messages from in-boxes (Wednesday) morning, determined the avenue used to gain access, and took corrective action to prevent it from recurring,” she said. "IT and UConn Police are investigating the incident.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in