Collège Mont Notre-Dame de Sherbrooke Data Breach

Collège Mont Notre-Dame de Sherbrooke, an educational institution located in Sherbrooke, Canada, has been reportedly targeted by the ransomware group CmdOrganization. The listing appeared on the group’s leak site on July 30, 2026, as part of their ongoing campaign. This incident was identified by SOCRadar’s Dark Web Monitoring service. The group’s activity often involves targeting entities that may possess valuable data or have accessible infrastructure, making educational institutions a potential target due to the sensitive information they handle, such as student records and administrative data. CmdOrganization has been actively listing victims, with 21 other claims made in the 60 days preceding this incident. The group primarily targets the Manufacturing, Education, and Energy sectors, with a strong concentration of victims located in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Collège Mont Notre-Dame de Sherbrooke fits within the group’s typical targeting patterns, aligning with both its focus on the education sector and its presence in North America. Previous victims with overlapping characteristics, such as other educational institutions or Canadian organizations, include Saint George’s School, Mount Royal University, Rondout Electric, and Contact Group.

SOCRadar’s investigation revealed seven records associated with the corporate domain @lemont[.]ca, all of which were found on third-party services. Notably, one account exhibited repeated interactions with Apple ID authentication endpoints over a sixteen-month period. The telemetry did not identify any direct access to internal organizational systems, suggesting that the primary compromise vector was likely through workstation infections rather than direct infrastructure compromise. The observed data spans from February 2025 to May 2026, indicating a potentially prolonged period of credential exposure or recurring infection of compromised endpoints. Infostealer-harvested credentials serve as a common initial access vector for threat actors like CmdOrganization. Operatives or initial access brokers typically acquire recent logs from underground marketplaces, validate the corporate credentials, and then utilize them to gain unauthorized access to systems such as Microsoft 365, VPNs, or remote-access portals before deploying ransomware. While the current telemetry does not definitively confirm that these specific credentials were used by CmdOrganization in an attack, compromised corporate accounts that are not rotated represent a significant foothold for this category of cyber incident. Organizations should verify the current status of the identified accounts and prioritize credential rotation. Imaging of affected workstations and a thorough review of multi-factor authentication settings for all corporate accounts are also recommended steps to mitigate potential risks. Continued monitoring of dark web stealer-log feeds and alternative corporate domains is crucial for early detection of further credential exposure.

This report is intended for threat intelligence and security awareness purposes. SOCRadar does not host, redistribute or buy stolen data. All breach information reported here is collected from publicly accessible threat actor and ransomware portals. This content is intended to equip CTI teams with context around recent attacks. While we strive for accuracy, listings on ransomware leak and extortion sites cannot always be independently verified and may not reflect confirmed breaches. If you believe any data in this report is incorrect, please contact us.