A cyberattack on the University of Connecticut (UConn) led to a disturbing hoax email announcing the death of the university's president, Radenka Maric. The message, disseminated early Wednesday to the undergraduate student body, falsely declared the "Unfortunate Passing" of President Maric.

Responsibility for the incident was claimed by the hacking group "SiegedSec." This group has also targeted government websites in various states, citing their opposition to bans on gender-affirming care as the motivation behind those attacks. However, in an interview with The Hartford Courant, an individual purporting to be the group's leader stated that the UConn breach was not politically driven. The hacker claimed it was done simply for the thrill of demonstrating the vulnerability of the system, using the hacker slang "for the lulz."

The hacker explained that the group obtained the login credentials for the UConn Daily Digest email account from publicly accessible data on a source code repository platform. The absence of two-factor authentication allowed them to access the account and send the false email.

UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz confirmed that the university has implemented measures to prevent future breaches. She stated that the IT department deleted the fraudulent emails, identified the method used by the hackers, and took corrective action. Both the IT department and UConn Police are currently investigating the incident.