MalwareEducationTechnologyEducationRansomwareStolen CredentialsRansom DemandedRansom PaidData ExfiltratedData EncryptedMulti-Stage ChainCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDMediumContained

Georgia Southern University

bd_08fddc3824e7df36 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Jul 16, 2020

Filed

Oct 9, 2020

To disclose

12 weeks

Affected

68state residents only

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for Georgia Southern University →5 incidents on file

Georgia Southern University notified Montana residents of a ransomware attack on vendor Blackbaud. Unauthorized access occurred Feb 7–May 20, 2020. Data included names, SSNs, and donor profiles. Blackbaud paid ransom, destroyed data, and fixed vulnerabilities. GSU provided 1-year Kroll identity monitoring.

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Incident timeline

undetected · 160 days

discovery → filing · 12 weeks / 85 days

Feb 7, 2020

Begins

Jul 16, 2020

Discovered

Oct 9, 2020

Filed

vs. sector median

+4 wks slower

Tracked as a single-filing incident — the only disclosure on record for this event so far.Confirmed68 affectedView incident

Name: Georgia Southern University
norm: georgia southern university

Name: Georgia Southern University
norm: georgia southern university
Industry: EducationllmTechnologyllm

Discovered: Jul 16, 2020
Breach occurred: Feb 7, 2020 – May 20, 2020
Undetected for: 160 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Oct 20, 2020
Affected individuals: 68state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government ID
Data elements: Social Security number
Attack vector: Ransomware
MITRE ATT&CK: T1486 Data Encrypted for ImpactT1041 Exfiltration Over C2 ChannelT1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Blackbaud reported that it has been working with law enforcement
Initial access: exploit_public_facing

During the incident: Conducted own investigation of the Blackbaud services
Secured the services of Kroll to provide identity monitoring services at no cost
Removing all Social Security numbers from the Blackbaud database
Taking additional steps with Blackbaud to better ensure that any sensitive or personal information is encrypted
Changes made: Blackbaud identified and fixed the vulnerability associated with this incident
Implemented several changes that will better protect your data from any subsequent incidents
Undertaking additional efforts to harden their environment through enhancements to access management
Network segmentation
Deployment of additional endpoint and network-based platforms
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 12 weeks(85 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: — (clock not assessable for this source)

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Evidence ladder

Leak-site claim

Attacker assertion only. Establishes: claim date, group, alleged victim.

Press / market report

Unlocks: incident narrative, operational impact. Still no compliance clock.

State AG / regulator filingThis record

Unlocks: discovery date, data types, affected count, compliance clock.

SEC 8-K / victim statement

Unlocks: materiality, stated response, full audit trail. Ceiling removed.

Source URL: https://dojmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/GSU-samp.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Oct 9, 2020
Raw hash: 08fa671f88fc116a76005a69f8dbc107256b48b82d196f9917e382d0483a8217

Reporting entityGeorgia Southern University

Victim entityGeorgia Southern University

Incidentdiscovered Jul 16, 2020

Stated responseConducted own investigation of the Blackbaud services

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancedojmt.gov