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Cyber Threat
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Ransomware victim Education

Cedar Crest College

Listed by Nightspire on · organisation based in United States

www.cedarcrest.edu

Disclosed
Jul 14, 2026
Leak-site listing date
Threat group
Nightspire
369 victims listed
Country
United States
#1 most targeted
Sector
Education

ThreatAI analysis

Compiled from this incident record and the threat intelligence profile for Nightspire. Figures and technique mappings are quoted from the source data, not inferred.

About the Nightspire group

NightSpire is a ransomware group that first emerged in March 2025 and rapidly claimed over 250 victims across retail, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and education sectors in the US, France, India, Taiwan, and Japan, using aggressive double-extortion with ransom deadlines as short as two days. Nightspire has listed 341 victims since February 2025.

How Nightspire is documented to operate

Valid Accounts T1078 Stealth Persistence

Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop. Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network.

Mitigations: Application Developer Guidance, User Training, Password Policies, User Account Management, Privileged Account Management, Multi-factor Authentication

MITRE ATT&CK reference
Brute Force T1110 Credential Access

Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained. Without knowledge of the password for an account or set of accounts, an adversary may systematically guess the password using a repetitive or iterative mechanism. Brute forcing passwords can take place via interaction with a service that will check the validity of those credentials or offline against previously acquired credential data, such as password hashes. Brute forcing credentials may take place at various points during a breach.

Mitigations: Password Policies, User Account Management, Multi-factor Authentication, Account Use Policies

MITRE ATT&CK reference
Exploit Public-Facing Application T1190 Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network. The weakness in the system can be a software bug, a temporary glitch, or a misconfiguration. Exploited applications are often websites/web servers, but can also include databases (like SQL), standard services (like SMB or SSH), network device administration and management protocols (like SNMP and Smart Install), and any other system with Internet-accessible open sockets. On ESXi infrastructure, adversaries may exploit exposed OpenSLP services; they may alternatively exploit exposed VMware vCenter servers.

Mitigations: Vulnerability Scanning, Limit Access to Resource Over Network, Filter Network Traffic, Network Segmentation, Privileged Account Management, Application Isolation and Sandboxing

MITRE ATT&CK reference
Phishing T1566 Initial Access

Adversaries may send phishing messages to gain access to victim systems. All forms of phishing are electronically delivered social engineering. Phishing can be targeted, known as spearphishing. In spearphishing, a specific individual, company, or industry will be targeted by the adversary. More generally, adversaries can conduct non-targeted phishing, such as in mass malware spam campaigns. Adversaries may send victims emails containing malicious attachments or links, typically to execute malicious code on victim systems. Phishing may also be conducted via third-party services, like social media platforms.

Mitigations: Network Intrusion Prevention, Restrict Web-Based Content, User Training, Antivirus/Antimalware, Software Configuration, Audit

MITRE ATT&CK reference
Command and Scripting Interpreter T1059 Execution

Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries. These interfaces and languages provide ways of interacting with computer systems and are a common feature across many different platforms. Most systems come with some built-in command-line interface and scripting capabilities, for example, macOS and Linux distributions include some flavor of Unix Shell while Windows installations include the Windows Command Shell and PowerShell. There are also cross-platform interpreters such as Python, as well as those commonly associated with client applications such as JavaScript and Visual Basic.

Mitigations: Restrict Web-Based Content, Limit Software Installation, Execution Prevention, Code Signing, Behavior Prevention on Endpoint, Privileged Account Management

MITRE ATT&CK reference
Software Deployment Tools T1072 Execution Lateral Movement

Adversaries may gain access to and use centralized software suites installed within an enterprise to execute commands and move laterally through the network. Configuration management and software deployment applications may be used in an enterprise network or cloud environment for routine administration purposes. These systems may also be integrated into CI/CD pipelines. Examples of such solutions include: SCCM, HBSS, Altiris, AWS Systems Manager, Microsoft Intune, Azure Arc, and GCP Deployment Manager. Access to network-wide or enterprise-wide endpoint management software may enable an adversary to achieve remote code execution on all connected systems.

Mitigations: Remote Data Storage, Limit Software Installation, User Training, Network Segmentation, Password Policies, User Account Management

MITRE ATT&CK reference

MITRE ATT&CK techniques attributed to Nightspire across its recorded activity, not a finding about how Cedar Crest College was reached.

Incident analysis

Cedar Crest College was listed by Nightspire ransomware, a group with 369 victims recorded in this database. The listing appeared on the group's leak site on July 14, 2026.

Cedar Crest College is based in United States and operates in the Education sector. United States ranks #1 worldwide for ransomware disclosures, with 10,161 victims in this database.

Sector context. Educational institutions often have under-resourced IT security teams and hold large amounts of student and faculty personal data, making them attractive targets for ransomware groups.

Nightspire typically follows a double extortion model: data is exfiltrated from the victim's systems before files are encrypted, so the victim faces two demands at once — pay to restore access, and pay to keep stolen data unpublished. The leak site, where this listing appeared, is the lever for the second demand.

Source. Public leak-site disclosures aggregated via the ransomware.live API. The disclosure date is when the listing was published, which can differ from the date of compromise. This site does not publish or link to stolen data. Last updated .

Frequently asked questions

Was Cedar Crest College attacked by ransomware?

Yes. Cedar Crest College was listed as a victim of the Nightspire ransomware group on July 14, 2026. The organisation is based in United States and operates in the Education sector. The disclosure appeared on the group's dark web leak site.

Which ransomware group attacked Cedar Crest College?

Cedar Crest College was attacked by Nightspire ransomware. Nightspire is one of the most active ransomware groups, having claimed 369 victims globally. The group typically employs a double-extortion model: encrypting the victim's files and threatening to publish stolen data.

When did the Cedar Crest College ransomware attack occur?

The ransomware attack on Cedar Crest College was disclosed on July 14, 2026. This date reflects when the victim was published on the threat group's leak site, which may differ from the actual date of initial compromise.

What data was stolen in the Cedar Crest College ransomware attack?

The specific data stolen from Cedar Crest College has not been independently verified by this platform. Ransomware groups typically exfiltrate data before encrypting systems and use the threat of publication to pressure victims. As a Education organisation, Cedar Crest College likely held student and faculty personal data and academic records.

How can organisations protect against Nightspire attacks?

To defend against Nightspire and similar threat actors, organisations should: maintain regular offline backups tested for restoration; implement network segmentation to limit lateral movement; deploy multi-factor authentication on all remote access; use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools; conduct regular phishing and security awareness training; and monitor threat intelligence feeds for indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with active groups.