HighWire Press Allegedly Breached 26M Records Exposed

A threat actor on a dark web forum has allegedly put up for sale a database purportedly stolen from HighWire Press, an internet hosting service specializing in academic and scholarly publications. According to the forum post, the breach allegedly compromised nearly 26 million records, affecting universities, schools, and medical centers, with over 6.5 million unique email addresses allegedly exposed.

HighWire Press, originally founded by Stanford University Libraries in 1995 and now headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with additional offices in the UK, provides digital publishing solutions for scholarly institutions. The alleged attacker claimed to have attempted contact with the company regarding a “small fee” before making the breach public. Furthermore, they stated that cybersecurity researcher Troy Hunt is aware of the situation, suggesting the dataset may soon be added to the Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) database.