Just received a notice letter? Cases are filed first-come, first-served. You may be entitled to compensation.
Cabrillo College was the subject of a data breach notification filed with the NH Attorney General. The AG filing was recorded on February 11, 2025.
From the AG filing description
Cabrillo College is an institution of higher education that serves thousands of students, faculty members, and administrative staff by providing academic instruction, career training, and campus support services. As an educational institution, Cabrillo College routinely collects, processes, and maintains a vast repository of highly sensitive personal and financial data. This information is gathered during the admissions process, financial aid applications, enrollment, employment onboarding, and daily campus operations. Because universities and colleges function as comprehensive communities, they handle deep personal records not only for students and employees, but frequently for parents, guardians, and alumni as well, creating a massive digital footprint that makes them prime targets for malicious actors. In 2025, Cabrillo College reported a significant data security incident to the New Hampshire Attorney General, alerting the public to a compromise of its network infrastructure. While investigations into such educational data breaches often point toward sophisticated cyberattacks—such as unauthorized access to administrative databases, ransomware deployment, or third-party vendor compromises—the core issue remains a failure to adequately secure the digital perimeter. Educational institutions frequently operate complex, decentralized networks connecting multiple campuses, remote learning portals, and legacy databases, which can introduce critical vulnerabilities if robust, multi-layered cybersecurity controls and continuous monitoring protocols are not strictly enforced. The breach exposed a wide array of sensitive categories, each carrying severe, long-term risks for the affected individuals. Compromised data typically includes full names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, student and employee identification numbers, academic transcripts, financial aid records, and banking details. When stolen, Social Security numbers and dates of birth provide the foundational building blocks for identity theft and tax fraud, while financial aid and banking records expose victims to direct account takeovers and fraudulent loan applications. For students and young adults especially, compromised personal information can silently ruin credit profiles and create financial hurdles that persist long before they even enter the workforce. Under federal and state legal standards, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and state data protection regulations, educational institutions have an affirmative legal obligation to implement and maintain reasonable security measures to protect the sensitive information entrusted to them. By failing to prevent unauthorized access and exfiltration of this data, Cabrillo College may have breached its legal duties under statutory mandates and implied contracts. Data privacy laws require institutions to maintain administrative, physical, and technical safeguards commensurate with the sensitivity of the data they hold; a successful breach often serves as prima facie evidence that these required safeguards were lacking. Receiving a data breach notification letter from Cabrillo College is not merely an administrative notice; it is a formal acknowledgment by the institution that your confidential information was compromised due to their security failures. Legally, this notification provides affected individuals with the standing necessary to participate in a class action lawsuit aimed at holding the college accountable. Class members may be entitled to compensation for out-of-pocket expenses, time spent mitigating identity theft risks, and the ongoing anxiety of compromised privacy, all without needing to prove direct financial loss. Our law firm handles these data breach cases on a strict contingency fee basis, meaning there are never any out-of-pocket costs or fees unless we successfully recover compensation for you.
Based on the data types reported in this filing:
Your SSN is the master key to your identity. Once exposed, criminals can open new lines of credit, take out loans, or file taxes in your name.
Combined with a name and other leaked data, date of birth helps criminals pass identity verification questions at banks and government agencies.
You may have been affected by the Cabrillo College data breach if:
Common categories of compensation in data breach class actions
Courts recognize that the time spent monitoring accounts, placing credit freezes, and dealing with the aftermath of a breach has real economic value. This category of damages is recoverable even without direct financial loss.
Professional credit monitoring services cost $10–$40 per month. Identity theft restoration services, if needed, can cost hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. Courts have awarded these costs as direct damages in SSN breach cases.
Direct financial losses resulting from the breach — unauthorized charges, fraudulent transfers, or fees incurred through fraud — are recoverable as compensatory damages. Banks may reverse some charges; a class action recovers the remainder and associated costs.
Data breach victims regularly report anxiety, loss of sleep, and ongoing fear of identity theft. These non-economic harms are cognizable injuries in data breach litigation, particularly in cases involving SSN or medical record exposure.
Note: an attorney general breach filing does not by itself establish a settlement fund, a payment amount, or a claim deadline. If an official settlement notice is later issued, rely on that notice for payment details and deadlines.
Applicable State Law
This breach was reported under the New Hampshire data breach notification law, which mandates notification and establishes your right to seek damages.
No. Under New Hampshire data breach notification law and federal law, the unauthorized exposure of your personal data — regardless of whether it has been actively misused — can be sufficient grounds for a claim. The breach itself is the injury.
Nothing. The Law Office of David S. Harris handles data breach cases on contingency — you pay zero upfront and owe nothing unless compensation is recovered.
Immediately place a free credit freeze at all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). A freeze blocks new accounts from being opened in your name. Then file a complaint with the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov and contact our office — SSN exposure is one of the most serious breach types.
Banks may reverse fraudulent charges, but they are not obligated to compensate you for time lost, stress, or indirect damages. A class action claim against the breached company can recover those additional categories of harm.
Statutes of limitations for data breach claims vary by state but typically run 2–4 years. Depending on when you learned of the breach, you may still have time. Contact our office for a free eligibility review — there is no cost to find out.
Accepting free credit monitoring from Cabrillo College does not waive your right to pursue legal action unless you signed a specific release waiving claims. In most cases, victims who accepted monitoring can still file.
Not necessarily. Many data breach victims are never notified directly. If your personal information was held by Cabrillo College during the relevant period, you may still qualify even without receiving a letter. A free eligibility review can confirm your status.
Received a notification letter from Cabrillo College?
Read our dedicated guide — what the letter means and what to do.
Learn how to participate in the class action and what compensation you may be entitled to.
Join the Class Action →Use our verification tool to confirm your letter matches this official AG filing.
Verify My Notice LetterThis case file references a public filing made with the state filing in NH. This website is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by any state government agency.
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