Southern Arkansas University Tech notifies data breach victims

Southern Arkansas University Tech this week confirmed it notified an undisclosed number of people about an October 2024 data breach.

The school has not stated what data was compromised or how many people are affected. However, SAU Tech is offering victims free credit monitoring, which usually implies Social Security numbers were among the data.

Ransomware gang RansomHub claimed responsibility for the breach in February 2025. The group claims to have stolen 252 GB of data from SAU Tech.

SAU Tech has not verified RansomHub’s claim. We do not know if the school paid a ransom, how much RansomHub demanded, or how attackers breached the school’s network. Comparitech contacted SAU Tech for comment and will update this article if it replies.

“In October 2024, we learned of suspicious activity associated with our computer systems,” says the school’s notice to victims. “The investigation determined that an unauthorized user gained access to SAU Tech’s systems and may have copied files containing some personal information while present on our systems.”

The deadline for victims to enroll in free credit monitoring through IDX is July 24, 2025.

Who is RansomHub?

RansomHub is a prominent cybercriminal gang that runs a ransomware-as-a-service business in which affiliates pay to use the group’s malware and infrastructure to launch their own attacks and collect ransoms. RansomHub is behind high-profile attacks on Rite Aid, Christie’s auction house, Frontier Communications, and the Florida Department of Health.

RansomHub has claimed responsibility for 138 confirmed ransomware attacks since it began, compromising nearly 6.5 million records. It claimed another 629 attacks that haven’t been acknowledged by the targeted organizations.

In 2024, RansomHub claimed 14 attacks on schools including Charleston County School District in South Carolina, which also began issuing data breach notifications this week to 20,653 RansomHub victims.

In 2025 to date, RansomHub has claimed 24 confirmed attacks and 199 unconfirmed, but the group has been relatively quiet for the past month. Some experts believe RansomHub’s affiliates are migrating to Qilin, another ransomware group.

Ransomware attacks on US education

In 2024, Comparitech researchers logged 76 confirmed ransomware attacks on US schools and colleges, compromising more than 2.8 million records. The average ransom demand is $876,000.

In 2025 so far, we’ve tracked 15 such attacks including one against American Falls School District #381 in Idaho, which recently notified victims of a March 2025 data breach.

Ransomware attacks on schools and colleges disrupt day-to-day operations such as taking attendance, submitting grades, phone and email communications, billing, payroll, and assignments. Ransomware attacks are often two-pronged: they lock down systems and steal data. Schools that refuse to pay face extended downtime, lose data, and put students and faculty at increased risk of fraud.

About Southern Arkansas University Tech

Located in Camden, AR, Southern Arkansas University Tech is a public two-year technical college with more than 700 students enrolled, according to external sources.